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PINK PANTY THE WOMEN’S FALL OF PROTEST MOVEMENT INDIA PUB ATTACK IS THERE ROOM ANGERS WOMEN FOR MEN? IMMINENT

WOMEN’S NEWS & FEMINIST VIEWS Fall 2009 Vol. 23 No. 2 Made in Canada AFGHANAFGHAN WOMENWOMEN STAND STRONG AGAINST SHIA LALAWW NEPALINEPALI WOMENWOMEN FIGHTFIGHT FORFOR CONSTITUTIONALCONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTSRIGHTS

$6.75 Canada/US Publications Mail Agreement No. 40008866; PAP Registration No. 07944 Return Undeliverable Addresses to: PO Box 128, Winnipeg, MB R3C 2G1 Canada Display until December 15, 2009 her-047 Fall 2009 v23n2.qxp 9/10/09 1:03 PM Page C2 Joss Maclennan Design, CEP Local 591-G Joss Maclennan Design, CEP Local 591-G CAWCAW womenwomen WeWe marchmarch forfor equality. equality. WeWe speakspeak outout for for justice. justice. We fight for change. We fight for change. For more information on women’s Forissues more and information rights please on visit women’s issueswww.caw.ca/women and rights please visit www.caw.ca/women

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FALL 2009 / VOLUME 23 NO. 2 news THE MOTHER OF ALL MUSEUMS 6 by Janet Nicol TEL AVIV SHOOTING IGNITES GAY RIGHTS 7 by Idit Cohen TIANANMEN MOTHERS REFUSE TO FORGET 22: Yvette Nolan 8 by Janet Nicol NEPALI WOMEN DEMAND EQUALITY 9 by Chelsea Jones 12 CAMPAIGN UPDATES PARENTING BILL WOULD ERODE RIGHTS 13 by Pamela Cross features IS MEN’S WORK, TOO? 16 It’s not called the women’s movement for nothing. But whose job is it to dismantle patriarchal privilege? Is there a role for men in our movement? by Mandy van Deven 30: Catherine MacLellan STAGING OUR STORIES 22 A profile of playwright Yvette Nolan, who recently remounted the 1967 classic The Ecstasy of Rita Joe with an all-Aboriginal creative team. by Shawna Dempsey

STANDING THEIR GROUND 26 With no or husbands in sight, hundreds of women bravely took to the streets of this summer in peaceful demonstrations to protest the regressive Shia Personal Status law. What did they gain? by Lauryn Oates

CATHERINE MACLELLAN 30 Music, motherhood in harmony for musician Catherine MacLellan by Brett Bundale

PINK PROTEST PASSIONATE 32 As women in India launch a public campaign to defend their rights, the traditional roles of men and women are slowly changing. by Kaj Hasselriis 32: Pink Protest Passionate HERIZONS FALL 2009 1 her-047 Fall 2009 v23n2.qxp 9/10/09 1:03 PM Page 2

VOLUME 23 NO. 2

MAGAZINE INK

MANAGING EDITOR: Penni Mitchell FULFILLMENT AND OFFICE MANAGER: Phil Koch ACCOUNTANT: Sharon Pchajek BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Ghislaine Alleyne, Phil Koch, Penni Mitchell, Kemlin Nembhard, Valerie Regehr EDITORIAL COMMITTEE: Ghislaine Alleyne, Gio Guzzi, Penni Mitchell, Kemlin Nembhand ADVERTISING SALES: Penni Mitchell (204) 774-6225 DESIGN: inkubator.ca RETAIL INQUIRIES: Disticor (905) 619-6565 PROOFREADER: Phil Koch COVER: Fakhria Ibrahimi

HERIZONS is published four times per year by HERIZONS Inc. in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. One-year subscription price: $26.19 plus $1.31 GST = $27.50 in Canada. Subscriptions to U.S. add $8.00. International subscriptions add $9.00. Cheques or money orders are payable to: HERIZONS, PO Box 128, Winnipeg, Manitoba, CANADA R3C 2G1. 36: Regina Spektor Ph (204) 774-6225. SUBSCRIPTION INQUIRIES: [email protected] EDITORIAL INQUIRIES: [email protected] arts & ideas ADVERTISING INQUIRIES: [email protected] WEBSITE: www.herizons.ca MUSIC MUST-HAVES HERIZONS is indexed in the Canadian Periodical Index. 36 Lily Alen, Regina Spektor, Indigo Girls, GST #R131089187. ISSN 0711-7485. Ina Unt Ina, Erica Azim The purpose of HERIZONS is to empower women; to inspire hope and foster a state of wellness that enriches women’s lives; to build FALL READING awareness of issues as they affect women; to promote the 38 African Love Stories edited by Ama Ata Aidoo, strength, wisdom and creativity of women; to broaden the bound- Half World by Hiromi Goto, Losing Confidence aries of feminism to include building coalitions and support among by Elizabeth May, I am Hutterite by Mary-Anne other marginalized people; to foster peace and ecological aware- Kirkby, The Mean Girl Motive by Nicole Landry, ness; and to expand the influence of feminist principles in the Shary Boyle: Otherworld Uprising, by Shary world. HERIZONS aims to reflect a that is Boyle, Minds of Our Own edited by M. Luxton, diverse, understandable and relevant to women’s daily lives. W. Robbins, M. Eichler and F. Descarries, Until Views expressed in HERIZONS are those of the writers and do not Our Hearts are on the Ground edited by Memee necessarily reflect HERIZONS’ editorial policy. No material may be Lavell and Jeanette Corbiere Lavell. reprinted without permission. Due to limited resources, HERIZONS does not accept poetry or fiction submissions.

HERIZONS acknowledges the financial support of the through the Publication columns Assistance Program (PAP) and the Canada Magazine Fund toward our mailing and editorial costs. PENNI MITCHELL 5 The Unstoppable Women of Asia HERIZONS gratefully acknowledges the support of the Manitoba Arts Council. SUSAN G. COLE Publications Mail Agreement No. 40008866, PAP Registration No. 15 Michael Jackson’s Swan Song 07944. Return Undeliverable Addresses to: PO Box 128, Winnipeg, MB, Canada R3C 2G1, Email: [email protected] LYN COCKBURN Herizons is proudly printed on Forest Stewardship Coun- 48 Fall of Patriarchy Imminent cil-certified paper. Please recyle.

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letters

KEEP RAISING I hope that Ms. Suek is able to find the funding she needs to get her THE ROOF initiative off the ground. I was very pleased to MELINDA ROBINSON read Beverly Suek’s arti- Etobicoke, ON cle on seniors’ living in the Summer issue of GIRLS’ ANGER Herizons. It is a timely REVISITED and important subject, I’ve worked as a counsel- one that communities, lor at a women’s centre governments and individuals are not addressing soon enough. and now as a consultant I, like most of my contemporaries, would like to be independent as on Aboriginal education long as possible. The independence I seek includes a strong sense of in a Winnipeg school divi- community and shared lives. I have never understood why we want to sion. I really enjoyed your live so isolated from one another, eating alone, gardening alone, cook- article in the Spring issue ing and cleaning alone. For me, community is shared meals, shared of Herizons on girls’ anger. It reminded me of what I wanted/needed as a tasks, caring for one another. What I am finding as I talk to my con- girl/young and did not get, and it inspires and encourages me temporaries about how they plan to live as we age is that they want to with the work I do for so many young Aboriginal women and girls. maintain their independence as long as possible. I believe we can only As an Aboriginal person, I am happy to now be able to equip myself do that by looking at options such as co-housing, co-operative living with more language on defining and validating my own anger that is and shared resources. still left over from experiences of racism, classism and when I These are all things that can free us from isolation and could allow was young. us to remain independent into old age. I would be more than happy to Thank you so much for all the excellent feminist work you are doing. give up some of my privacy for the opportunity to share meals, activi- The girl I used to be thanks you too, for the empowerment—permis- ties and care with those I choose to live with, rather than in a sion, even—to voice her anger bravely and unapologetically. government- or privately owned institution, where my choices will be LISA AYMONT HUNTER non-existent. St. Andrews, MB It is time for society and governments to rethink housing. Do we all need to be alone behind locked doors? Why not provide funding and SMOKING FACTOR IGNORED creativity to retrofitting some of the monster houses of the ’80s and We are writing in response to the editorial in the Summer Herizons, ’90s into co-housing for seniors. As we age, quality of life is far more “Ten ways to fight breast cancer,” by Penni Mitchell. important than square footage. We found it regrettable that the article did not address the role of JOAN FROMMER active smoking and second-hand smoke as modifiable risk factors for Perth, ON breast cancer. We refer the author to the 2009 Report of the Canadian Expert Panel on Tobacco and Breast Cancer Risk, which concluded HURRAH FOR HOUSING REFORM that women, particularly young women who smoke, as well as those I just got my copy of the summer issue of Herizons. I absolutely loved who are routinely exposed to second-hand smoke, face a significantly the article on housing for senior women—this is something that we higher risk of developing breast cancer. went through with my husband’s grandmother. She had been living Without the mention of the dangers of smoking and second-hand with us but was getting too old for the staircases, and she wanted to smoke exposure, the author has not provided an accurate health mes- be with women closer to her own age—she’s 94, so it’s not an espe- sage to women. cially large demographic. Abstaining from smoking and second-hand smoke should definitely One of the places that we looked at was a horrible nursing home, be at the top of Mitchell’s fight breast cancer list. complete with robotic machines to sponge-bathe residents. Fortu- THE LIBRARY TEAM, nately, she was able to find a Lithuanian retirement apartment where CANADIAN COUNCIL FOR TOBACCO CONTROL she would be able to live mostly independently and be surrounded by Ottawa, ON people who speak her language. This is nice for people living inside the city of who happen COMMITTED TO ACCURACY to be able to get a hold of the limited public housing spots, but I In the Summer issue of Herizons, we incorrectly remember the place my great-grandmother was in after she finally identified the co-author of the book Committed became too old to live in her little house up in Northern . There to the Sane Asylum as Rosemary Brown. The was no distinction made between the elderly, the disabled and the correct name of the co-author is, in fact, Rose- mentally ill. Even though the rooms were private, the doors were left mary Barnes. The publishers of Herizons open and other residents were free to wander in whether she wanted sincerely apologize for this error and encourage them there or not. She wasn’t allowed to eat what she wanted to, or readers to pick up a copy of this fabulous book, when she wanted to eat, and she was treated like a child. published by Wilfrid Laurier University Press.

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first word BY PENNI MITCHELL

The Unstoppable Women of Asia

It took 50 years of protesting—two generations—before theme, convinced hundreds of women to mail their pink women could vote on the same basis as male British subjects. chaddis (underwear) to the clerics in protest! You have to ask, why didn’t they give up? Why didn’t those To the east in Burma (also called Myanmar,) democratically in the U.S. civil rights movement stop protesting when elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi continues to expose the dirty segregation and discrimination continued in spite of blacks’ laundry of her country’s generals. The EU just upped its demands for justice? economic sanctions against the country, demanding her release You don’t stop, because you know, in every molecule in your as well as the release of 2,000 political prisoners. Suu Kyi has body, what is wrong. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the right lived under house arrest for 14 of the last 20 years, and despite to abortion or the right enjoy a drink at a pub in Mangalore, offers by military rules to let her leave the country the Nobel India. It’s often spontaneous, yet when it happens, you know Peace Prize-winner has refused. Suu Kyi’s devotion comes at a that nothing can stop you. high price. She remains separated from her adult children, and This is the growing feeling of women in many Asian her husband died in 1997 after officials refused to let him enter countries. In , hundreds of women took to the the country when he was critically ill. streets this summer—no burqas, no husbands—to Just to the northwest, women in Nepal are protesting demand that religious clerics stop usurping their rights. gender injustice in the streets, too—something that is not a The protesters could have been attacked, disowned or even regular occurrence. Nepalis are demanding nothing less than killed by male family members for dishonouring their constitutional equality, even as their government tries to families. And yet something overshadowed their fear: both placate women by paying them to get married. Often poor a profound sense that they are entitled to fair treatment and frequently subjugated, it might be temping for women to and a willingness to act. take the money and run. And yet, they too are overcome by Just look at the pictures in the article beginninng on page the same feelings of injustice and determination as their 26. Men gather around a new mosque built by an Iran- sisters in India, Afghanistan and Burma. All of them are backed cleric and watch women marching. The buttoned making the same demand in the streets: “Give us justice.” jacket sleeves on the cover of this issue belong to Did I mention that none of them has won? The Shia policewomen who created a human barrier between women Personal Status law was published (or passed) in protesers and male counter-protesters. Maybe they were just Afghanistan. India’s religious clerics still act like a public doing their job, but it’s hard not to see the strength and morality squad, gender-based violence continues in Nepal, solidarity conveyed by their locked hands. while Suu Kyi remains a prisoner. And yet, paradoxically, Meanwhile, in India, hundreds protested against the far- these women are powerful forces of change. right group Sri Ram Sena after about 40 members walked Why? Because none are going to pack it in and give up. into a Mangalore pub in January and assaulted female And whether or not the , the pink- patrons, accusing them of not acting according to traditional panty brigade in India, and the constitutional equality- Indian values. Women’s response in many cities was a seekers in Nepal have heard the words of Suu Kyi, they are all collective “Aha!” followed by street protests against the guided by their spirit. clerics. And when Sri Ram Sena threatened couples “It is not power that corrupts, but fear,” Suu Kyi observed. celebrating Valentine’s Day in public, women—in saris, “Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it, and fear of Western wear and work uniforms—took to the streets, the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.” risking their personal safety, their jobs and the wrath of male Like all revolutionaries before them, these women have family members to say no to fundamentalists. A group of already gained a measure of liberty by giving up their fear. particularly cheeky women, roused by the Valentine’s Day And they will not be stopped.  HERIZONS FALL 2009 5 her-047 Fall 2009 v23n2.qxp 9/11/09 12:09 PM Page 6

nelliegrams THE MOTHER OF STAMP ON HISTORY ALL MUSEUMS Canada Post has issued a BY JANET NICOL stamp in honour of Rose- mary Brown, the first black woman elected to a provincial legisla- reaching campaign ture in Canada. of exhibits, dis- Brown was born in Jamaica in 1930 and plays, projects, moved to Canada, where she fought for literary works, films women’s and minorities’ rights throughout and Internet out- her trailblazing career as a feminist reach in the initial activist and opponent of racism. Brown phases are gener- was elected as a Member of the Legisla- ating a wave of tive Assembly in British Columbia in 1972. interest and, hope- She later ran for the leadership of the fed- fully will draw eral , making her start-up funds. As the first woman to run for the leadership well as a physical of a Canadian federal political party. She and virtual location died in 2003. A new museum of motherhood, planned for Seneca Falls, is now in the gestational stage. for displaying moth- Brown’s son, Jonathan Brown, said of the erhood artifacts, Motherhood has been marginalized through- honour: “My mother’s accomplishments, as the museum will house a research library out history. Yet consider the Tiananmen well as those of many other influential black and archive plus a teaching and perform- Mothers in China, the Mothers of the Disap- Canadians, have been left out of history ance space. Educational programs, exhibits, peared in Argentina, and Betty Williams and books for too long. This stamp issue will seal special events, conventions and artifacts will Mairead Maguire, mothers from Northern her indelible place in Canadian history.” explore mothering today and in the past Ireland who won the Nobel Peace Prize. “It will range from the scholarly to popular BAHAMAS MOVES TO BAN Soon, their stories could be illuminated in the culture,” says Rose. “We are spreading the MARITAL RAPE Museum of Motherhood. word, trying to get people behind us and According to the drafter of a Bahamian bill “We can’t change our future if we don’t fundraising.” that would criminalize marital rape, Minister know our past,” explains Joy Rose, executive While the museum will focus on North of State for Social Development Loretta director of the Motherhood Foundation, from American mothering, there will be an inter- Butler-Turner, attitudes about spousal rela- her home in New York City. national component. tionships that leave women vulnerable to A long-time feminist, Rose found herself “We won’t glamorize the role of mother- abuse must change. “far away from my life as a woman” after hood,” Rose promises, pointing to the current Currently, charges of rape can only be becoming a mother. “I have dealt with illness media hype surrounding celebrity mothers. brought against a spouse if the couple is and divorce and becoming disempowered “The museum has an online presence at legally separated or in the process of get- through mothering.” www.museumofmotherhood.org and we are ting a divorce. A few years ago, a friend suggested the asking supporters to post a sentence, a para- The bill, brought forward in August, ignited idea of a museum to establish a legacy for graph, a story as part of our initial exhibit,” debate during government-organized forums mothers. Then, at a conference in Toronto, Rose says. “The contributions will eventually and on radio talk shows. Many are opposed Rose met Andrea O’Reilly, a professor at York be bound into a book.” to the measure because they believe it will University and the founder and director of Rose finds it “amazing and ironic” that lead to women filing false charges, reported the Association for Research on Mothering society doesn’t honour mothers. “Mother- the Associated Press. A pastor at the King- (ARM), the first feminist research association blaming and objectifying women has dom Life Church, Cedric Moss, said publicly on mothering. The two developed the created a lot of damage,” she continues. that sexual violence within marriage should museum concept further, with ARM becom- “We need to dig deep into the well of our not be called rape and should be addressed ing co-founder of the museum. O’Reilly will subconscious when it comes to our atti- with lesser penalties. chair the museum’s academic committee. tudes about mothers. Our society needs to The controversy led Progressive Liberal O’Reilly, the author of many books on make a major shift.” Party Senate Leader Allyson Maynard-Gib- mothering and the editor of an upcoming Rose applauds universities teaching son to propose that the bill be withdrawn encyclopedia on mothering, says the two mothers’ studies because they have begun until an in-depth study about domestic vio- organizations will work together to “establish to recognize these ideas. “When women lence can be conducted. She suggested a world-class museum to display the herstory have children, there is a forgetting,” Rose that evaluation of the bill be “removed from of mothers, promote women’s studies and the believes. “You begin to care about your child the political arena and be conducted by evolution of the family, while honouring the more than yourself.” nationally and internationally respected achievements of women who are mothers.” “I compare the experience to flying in an experts” in the legal, religious and medical The organizations are looking for a build- airplane. Suddenly you are thousands of feet fields. She also called for sweeping ing to purchase in Seneca Falls, a village in in the air and you are looking for a landing changes to how rapes are prosecuted, upstate New York where the U.S. National strip. You need support and community to including the creation of a new family court Women’s Hall of Fame is located. A broad- make a safe landing.” 

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FEWER WOMEN CAST nelliegrams system to try domestic violence charges. VOTES IN AFGHANISTAN According to Sandra Dean-Patterson, director of an organization that aids abuse In the lead-up to the election, Sima Samar, victims, the bill is a statement that “our chairwoman of the Afghanistan Independent nation will no longer condone violence in Human Rights Commission, told Reuters that the family. If you have to force your hus- there were suspiciously high levels of female band or your wife to be sexual, something is registration in conservative areas of south- wrong with the relationship.” ern Afghanistan. An unnamed source told Reuters that in several provinces the number DESIGNING of registered female voters exceeded the WOMEN number of women in the area. Canadian Another factor was a reported shortage of clothing female workers to staff women-only polling designer Izzy places. Afghanistan’s Independent Election Camilleri has entered the world of adapt- Commission reported that it needed 13,000 able fashion, creating a line of fashionable clothing for women with limited mobility. Sima Samar, chairwoman of the Afghanistan Indepen- additional women to staff the polls. Habiba dent Human Rights Commission, reported voter fraud Surobi, governor of Bamiyan, said women in Bomber-style jackets, stretch-denim involving female registrants in southern Afghanistan. many remote Afghan villages remain pants with invisible zippers for catheter tub- unaware of their rights, including their right ing and ruffled white blouses with side According to observers in Afghanistan’s to vote. zippers are among her new creations. A August election, women’s voting participa- Many progressives favoured the re-elec- jean skirt is designed for someone always tion was much lower than it was in the 2004 tion of Hamid Karzai—with reservations. in a seated position, while a trench coat is election, when four in 10 voters were Shukria Barakzai, a feminist and Afghan MP shorter in the back and sides to prevent women. Women’s voter registration cards said in a Globe and Mail interview that, “In fabric bunching. are frequently fraudulent because, unlike this election, we don’t have a best candidate. In related news, Ryerson University’s men’s, do not include a photograph for identi- We don’t have good candidates, we don’t School of Fashion now offers an elective fication. As a result, men can easily engage have bad candidates—we have worst can- course in functional apparel design. in proxy voting by collecting the registration didates. Hamid Karzai is the least worst.” cards of women in their families, according Approximately 300 of 3,000 candidates for JOURNALISTS to Feminist News. provincial councils were women.  RELEASED IN KOREA Two American journal- ists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling, were released after five months of detention by GAY RIGHTS RENEWED North Korean officials after an agreement was negotiated by U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton. North AFTER SHOOTING Korea accused the reporters of trying to illegally enter the country. The two were BY IDIT COHEN sentenced to 12-years hard labour. The women were reporting on the issue (JERUSALEM) The killing of a young woman and Lesbian Association. The group was of human trafficking along the North Korea- and man at a Tel Aviv gay and lesbian centre founded 15 years ago to provide young gays China border. Reporters Without Borders has prompted Israeli activists to renew their and lesbians with a place of refuge, coun- had said that North Korean border guards fight for equality. selling and support to come out. crossed over into Chinese territory and On August 1, a masked gunman burst into “Eighty percent of gay teens have been detained the women. the basement of Tel Aviv’s Gay and Lesbian subject to verbal abuse due to their sexual While the story had a happy ending for Association building and opened fire on a orientation and about half of them have suf- the two journalists, the trafficking of North weekly support group meeting, killing 26-year- fered some sort of physical and/or sexual Korean women into China continues to be old Nir Katz and 16-year-old Liz Trubeshi. Ten abuse,” he explained. under-reported. This violation of rights others were injured during the attack. A week after the killings, a rally was held involves an estimated 300,000 women and No arrests have been made. Katz worked at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv. Among the 70,000 girls of North Korean origin. Of North as a counsellor at the centre for the past three attendees was Israeli President Shimon Korean women and girl refugees in China, years and lived with his partner of four years. Peres, who told the crowd that every person an estimated 80 to 90 percent are victims of “Sadly, it was certainly not the first homo- has the freedom to be who he or she is. trafficking, believed to be the highest per- phobic expression we have encountered,” “The gunshots that hit the gay community centage of trafficking in a single population. said Itzik Tzaror, spokesperson for the Gay earlier this week hit us all—as people, as Once women are trafficked, North Korea

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Jews, as Israelis. The person who pointed Knesset Member Shlomo Benizri blamed nelliegrams the gun at Nir Katz and Liz Trubeshi pointed it earthquakes that had recently struck the Mid- at all of you as well, at all of us, at you, at me. dle East on homosexuals. He recommended considers them defectors and treats them There can be no gunmen within us,” he said. that instead of merely reinforcing buildings to as criminals. The government denies the Tel Aviv is considered the most pluralistic withstand earthquakes, the government existence of trafficking. China deports 5,000 and accepting city in Israel, a country where should pass legislation to outlaw homosexual- to 10,000 North Koreans each year who are it is estimated that one in ten people is a ity. Two years ago, a dozen people were working illegally in the country. member of the LGBT community. Israel has an injured in a show of force organized by more Due to economic hardship in North active gay community with well-attended than two thousand members of the Haredi Korea, women are lured into working in annual gay pride festivals held in Tel Aviv and community (a radical religious sect) who China under false pretences, or are kid- Jerusalem since 1998. Tel Aviv also has gay- jammed the streets in the Orthodox neigh- napped by Korean traffickers. The UN does oriented cafés, clubs, restaurants and bars. bourhoods of Jerusalem to protest the gay not grant survivors of trafficking automatic LGBT rights in Israel are considered the most pride parade in Jerusalem. rights as refugees. tolerant in the Middle East. The country is the only The Israeli gay centre marked the rally According to international trafficking one in the Middle East and all of Asia to recognize with the promise that the murderer, trying to expert Ji-Yeon Yuh, this form of modern-day same-sex marriages performed elsewhere. Israel push the gay community back, won’t suc- slavery includes Africans, Asians, Middle doesn’t allow same-sex couples to marry on ceed. “We’ll continue fighting firmly for equal Easterners and Latin Americans. An esti- Israeli soil, however. rights until there is no more fear in our lives,” mated 161 countries are involved as Not everyone is accepting. Last year, pledged Tzaror.  countries of origin, transit countries or des- tination countries, according to Yuh, co-founder of the Alliance of Scholars Con- cerned about Korea and president of KANWIN, a Korean-American women’s organization focusing on domestic violence. According to the U.S. State Department, TIANANMEN MOTHERS 800,000 people are trafficked every year. About 80 percent of trafficking victims are REFUSE TO FORGET women and girls, and the estimate of the number of people trafficked to date ranges BY JANET NICOL from four million to 27 million. An estimated 70 percent of all trafficked women and girls The death toll is a state secret. The victims’ that refers to the practice held over from the are sold into commercial sex work, accord- families and survivors are harassed for chal- massive re-education program of the Cul- ing to Yuh. lenging the official version of events. And tural Revolution in which intellectuals and Human trafficking generates an esti- mourning the fallen is not allowed. others were sent to the countryside to do mated $32 billion yearly for traffickers, This is the situation in China 20 years after manual labour. according to the International Labor Organi- the massacre of unarmed youth demonstrat- Fung is also a staff member of the Hong zation. ing at a pro-democracy rally in Beijing’s Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democ- Tiananmen Square. ratic Movements in China. Her group started SURVIVORS But Ding Zilin, a 53-year-old university pro- a red and white rose campaign, distributing ELIGIBLE FOR fessor when her son was killed, defied the the flowered badges in Hong Kong every ASYLUM IN U.S. government by collecting names of victims. June 4. Following a recent She organized the Tiananmen Mothers “White symbolizes purity of the hearts,” case of a woman from (www.tiananmenmother.org), and to date the Fung explains, “while red symbolizes pas- Mexico seeking asylum in the U.S., the group has collected 195 names. sion. Many young students and citizens Obama administration says it will make it Zilin’s son Jiang Jiang was 17 years old sacrificed their lives in the June 4 mas- possible for women survivors of severe when he was shot. It is estimated that 2,000 sacre for democracy.” domestic and sexual abuse to seek and people died on June 4, when the Chinese Fung has called on the Chinese government obtain asylum. government sent armed troops and tanks to “to treat the Tiananmen Mothers humanely, The new policy holds that battered attack students in the square. such as assuring the right to mourn freely women meet the standard of membership in Zilin, now retired, says she’s luckier than their children and family members.” a “persecuted group.” The change recog- many mothers because she eventually Her organization’s website, dedicated to nizes that domestic abuse is not simply a found out from other witnesses how her son the Tiananmen mothers, is at private or family matter. Rather, it repre- died and was able to recover the body for http://www.tmc-hk.org/. The group’s sents a violation of women’s human rights. cremation. demands include “the right for the Tianan- It remains to be seen whether the uniden- Every five years, parents gather to remem- men Mothers and family members of victims tified Mexican woman in the case in ber their children. But this year, Zilin was told to mourn peacefully, freely and publicly. We question will be granted asylum. The policy by government authorities that she and her also demand the right for parents, husbands, also maintains strict limitations. Women husband could not attend. wives or children of victims to visit the tombs must be able to provide evidence of the “The Tiananmen mothers are being moni- freely to mourn for their beloved ones. We severity of their abuse and of the lack of tored,” says Ocean Fung, an activist in Hong demand the right for them not to be sub- recourse in their own countries. The shift in Kong. “Ding Zilin and her husband were sent jected to surveillance, harassment, policy does not apply to women fleeing to the countryside for a vacation,” a term intimidation, oppression, inhuman or degrad-

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ing treatment or punishment.” more difficult. Zhang Xianling, another activist mother, Every June 4, the mothers’ group releases nelliegrams saw her 19-year-old son Wang Nan for the a statement demanding the government last time on June 3,1989. Ten days later, his investigate and prosecute those responsible other forms of abuse, including genital muti- disinterred body was returned to her and her for the killings. More than 150,000 Hong Kong lation. husband. She joined Zilin to compile a list of residents participated in this year’s candle- The human rights group MADRE wel- the dead, gathering 185 names by 2004. light vigil in Victoria Park on the anniversary. comed the move, calling for the full Xianling says fear among parents Amnesty International and Human Rights realization and implementation of this whose children died prevents many from Watch continue to speak out against China’s important policy shift. coming forward. As well, the pre-Olympics failure to provide a list of the deceased and “Freedom of movement is a fundamental demolition of the capital city’s alleyways its continued persecution of the victims’ fam- human right not only for asylum seekers,  has made connecting with victims’ families ilies and survivors. but for all, and additional policy changes are needed to bring all of U.S. immigration law into compliance with the full range of international human rights standards,” a MADRE statement said. NEPALI WOMEN IRANIAN WOMEN’S RIGHTS LEADER DEMAND EQUALITY RELEASED Shadi Sadr was BY CHELSEA JONES released July 28 from Iran’s Evin Prison after she was arrested two weeks earlier on her way to a prayer service. Sadr, a women’s rights advocate, lawyer and jour- nalist, has had numerous clashes with police since her two-week jail stay in 2004. According to Iran Human Rights, a group of international activists who lobby for human rights in Iran, three other female women’s rights activists remain in prison: Shiva Nazar Ahari, Kaveh Mozafarri and Jila Bani Yaghoub. Sadr was released along with 140 other prisoners who were detained for their involvement in recent protests against the June presidential election in Iran. The detainees were released following a gov- ernment investigation of prisoner conditions, which was conducted after 20 prisoner deaths were reported by the pro- reform opposition. —Associated Press, Women’s E-News

IRANIAN WOMEN APPOINTED In the aftermath of his country’s bitter sum- On March 8, 2009, International Women’s Day, women in Kathmandu held one of the largest marches ever to draw mer election, Iranian President Mahmoud attention to the need to entrench women’s equality in their country’s constitution. (Photo by Chelsea Jones) Ahmadinejad announced that he will appoint three women to his cabinet. Fate- (KATHMANDU, NEPAL) If you are a married Ten years ago, the client, Mihili Adhakari, meh Ajorlou is slated for appointment as Nepali woman, you likely live with your in- came to a mutual agreement with her in-laws social welfare minister and Marzieh Vahid laws. When your husband dies, you are under which she would assume ownership of Dastjerdi as health minister. A third woman legally entitled to inherit the family property, the marital home. Then they simply locked her minister has yet to be named. Once and you may have nothing else. If your in- out of the house. Her case has gone all the approved, the appointees will be the first laws won’t hand it over, you will need to way to Nepal’s Supreme Court. women cabinet ministers since Iran’s hire a lawyer. “So if there is only one house, how can Islamic Revolution in 1979. But good luck getting your case settled. [my client] live in that house?” Dixit asks. Both Ajorlou and Dastjerdi are reportedly In Neeta Dixit’s small legal practice in the Dixit works alongside a handful of Canadian hard-line conservatives, supporting enforce- country’s capital, she has one client whose feminists who are working to entrench ment of Islamic dress codes for women and case has been ongoing for 20 years. women’s rights in Nepal’s constitution. proposing gender-segregated health care, “We win the cases,” Dixit notes with irony, respectively, according to the BBC. “but we can’t get the property.” Continued page 11 Ahmadinejad was sworn in to his second

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After 10 years of insurgency, the country acts against household maids.” is rebuilding itself. A Maoist-led “People’s Nepal has signed international human nelliegrams War” abolished Nepal’s monarchy and rights treaties promoting equality. However, ushered in a string of prime ministers touting Brodsky observes that, “It is not enough for term in office in August and widespread democracy mantras. It also resulted in 13,000 the government to sign and then wait and protests followed charges of voting irregu- casualties. After winning an election two see what happens.” larities. Women played a major role in the years ago, the Maoist government promised Nepali women don’t use the word public uprising that followed the election a new constitution. Then, in May, the prime “feminist” to push their agenda; instead and were particularly visible during the minister abruptly resigned and a new prime they refer to “development” and “women’s election campaign. minister was elected about two weeks later. issues.” Constitutional drafts remain on hold. “I wouldn’t put too much weight on the WOMEN INSIDE Canadian lawyer Sheri Meyerhoffer has fact that Nepali women don’t call this THE BOX been working in Nepal for two years with the feminism,” says Melina Buckley, another The International support of the Canadian Bar Association. Canadian lawyer working in Nepal. “Maybe Olympic Committee Along with Dixit and other Nepali women, feminism is more of a First World concept.” voted to add women’s she is waiting for the constitutional process Whatever it is called, Nepali women are boxing to the 2012 Sum- to pick up again. working in support of equal pay for equal mer Olympics in “Nepal has an incredible ability to move work, shelters for survivors of violence, and London. Women will compete in three weight forward, albeit begrudgingly, chaotically and specific rights for indigenous and single classes and one male weight class will likely with lots of yelling and finger pointing,” women, among other improvements. be cut to accommodate the new categories. Meyerhoffer observes. Men scribed each of the country’s Women’s boxing dates back to the 1720s, The country’s interim constitution is the previous constitutions, but 33 per cent of the and there are over 500,000 licensed female first in a line that includes six previous current Constituent Assembly is made up of boxers in 120 countries. —Feminist News constitutions to mention women’s rights. The women. The reform-minded women want the The sport of ski-jumping remains off-lim- interim constitution contains provisions Constituent Assembly to mention women in its to women, despite the efforts of a group protecting women from discrimination as the new constitution’s preamble. Changes to of Canadian women who challenged the well as from mental and physical abuse. It the constitution are also expected to lead to Vancouver Winter Olympics Committee with also recognizes women’s reproductive rights the formation of a family court, which it is violating Canada’s equality laws for not and equal property rights. anticipated, will settle property-law cases ensuring women could compete in the sport These provisions aren’t enough, according more quickly than the current time frame of in 2012. to a survey conducted by the Nepal Bar 10 years or more. Association. Respondents identified Meyerhoffer holds cautious hope that ABORTION IN TAIWAN additional constitutional must-haves, constitutional reform will eventually improve Taiwan’s legislature has released a report including the concept of human dignity and the lives of women. Once rights are in place, recommending the liberalization of the the equitable distribution of resources and it is a lawyer’s job to represent women’s nation’s abortion laws. The report proposes opportunities. needs by setting precedents in her or his changes to the Genetic Health Act, which A Nepali household, for example, is usu- own practice in order to slowly have currently states that married women need ally divided between the mother-in-law and discriminatory laws voided. spousal consent to have an abortion, the son. The son can share some of the prop- “The women in Nepal need to make men reports the Taipei Times. erty with his bride. This leads to problems for more responsible for creating a situation The report says married individuals Dixit’s clients who are no longer allowed in where they’re going to have a chance,” she should be able to have a tubal ligation or their homes but have been awarded the explains. “And that’s not going to be easy.” vasectomy without spousal consent and property in court. Further, there will be a need for enabling recommends that 18- or 19-year-old unmar- Only 800 of Nepal’s 10,000 lawyers are legislation and a plan for services and ried women should be able to obtain an women. Most female lawyers are advocates, programs to advance rights, Meyerhoffer abortion without parental approval. many don’t practice law, and only 36 of says, noting that government incentives don’t Nepal’s 67 districts are home to even one automatically overcome societal gender NEPALI WOMEN PROTEST female lawyer. roles. For example, the state provides free Nepali women staged a protest in Kath- Gwen Brodsky, a Canadian human rights education for girls up to the eighth grade. mandu in August in response to the expert, spoke to lawyers in Nepal recently But, most rural girls don’t go to school government’s offer of a cash incentive of about substantive equality, which involves because it is widely believed to be more 50,000 rupees ($650) to get married. not simply gender-neutral laws, but laws important for them be trained in household Hundreds of single women—including specifically designed to reflect the urgent duties, since they will be married and sent to widows, divorcees, women whose hus- and unique needs of women. live in their husbands’ homes. bands are missing and unmarried women “Equality must address women’s real “Women will have to continue to work above age 35—marched in protest of what inequalities,” Brodsky says. hard to make the rights that are guaranteed they called a “government-sponsored The Nepal Bar Association is calling on on paper actually translate to meaningful dowry” that treats them as commodities. Nepal’s government to promote gender gains on a day-to-day basis,” adds Buckley. Activists at the march said marriage is justice by improving women’s education and Nepali women are showing no sign of not the solution to single women’s prob- the number of women in leadership quieting down. They are determined that lems. What would help, organizers said, is positions, and by addressing violence— their constitution will make a strong financial independence through better everything from trafficking and the dowry statement about the type of nation Nepal employment opportunities and better edu- system to what it describes as “inhuman aspires to become.  cation for children. 

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campaign updates

COURT DENIES CAMBODIAN GREENPEACE INTERVENER STATUS RIGHTS LEADER WIPES UP An Ontario Superior Court ruled that two reli- RALLIES KLEENEX BOYCOTT gious groups and a conservative women’s Mu Sochua, the Cambodian Greenpeace announced group can not intervene in a constitutional Member of Parliament and the end of its international challenge to Canada’s solicitation laws brought internationally renowned Kleercut campaign in by the group Sex Professionals of Canada. leader in women’s rights, August. Justice Ted Matlow of the court ruled the was found guilty in August Kimberly-Clark, which participation of the groups—the Christian Legal of defamation against Cambodia’s Prime Minis- makes Kleenex brand products, promised that Fellowship, the Catholic Civil Rights League and ter Hun Sen, leader of the majority Cambodian it will no longer purchase pulp from the three- REAL Women of Canada—would turn the chal- People’s Party. million-hectare Kenogami and Ogoki forests in lenge into a platform for religious views and Human rights groups denounced the ver- Northern Ontario unless strict ecological crite- would disrupt the prolong the proceedings. dict as politically biased. Following the ria are met. The court case “does not provide a political verdict, about 200 of Sochua’s party members Kimberley-Clark, the world’s largest manu- platform where interested persons are permit- and supporters staged an impromptu march in facturer of tissue products, agreed to the ted to speak in order to advance their personal the streets of Phnom Penh to the city’s Inde- policy in order to help ensure greater sustain- views, beliefs, policies and interests at large,” pendence Monument, Cambodia’s symbol of able management of Canada’s boreal forest Matlow ruled in July. democracy and freedom. The monument was region. North America’s largest old-growth Ruth Ross of the Catholic Civil Rights erected after the overthrow of French colonial forest is a habitat for threatened wildlife, a League called the ruling an infringement on rule in 1954. sanctuary for more than one billion migratory free speech. One of Cambodia’s first female lawmakers, birds, and a mammoth depot for carbon sinks, Sochua helped to write the Cambodian Consti- a natural mitigater of greenhouse gases. EU DEMANDS tution, which includes laws prohibiting Suhas Apte, Kimberly-Clark vice-president FREEDOM discrimination. Sochua was the first head of of environment, energy, safety, quality and FOR SUU KYI the ministry of women for the newly formed sustainability, said: “We commend Green- European Union gov- democracy. After she stepped down from that peace for helping us develop more sustainable ernments stiffened role in 2007, she campaigned for the opposi- standards.” economic sanctions tion Sam Rainsy Party in her home district, the Kimberly-Clark has pledged to obtain 100 against Burma (also called Myanmar) after the impoverished Kampot Province. percent of the company’s wood fibre for tissue country’s military rulers extended the house In April 2008, Sochua accused Cambodian products, including the Kleenex brand, from arrest of its democratically elected leader People’s Party officials of illegally using gov- environmentally responsible sources. The Aung San Suu Kyi by 18 months. ernment staff and vehicles to campaign for standards will increase the use of both Forest Sixty companies with ties to the country’s Hun Sen in the 2008 election. Sochua Stewardship Council-certified fibre and recy- military regime were put on an EU investment attempted to take a picture of one of the cars, cled fibre. By 2012, Kimberly-Clark pledged ban and asset freeze, and some of the coun- but officials forcibly stopped her, ripping her that 40 percent of its North American tissue try’s officials were barred from travelling to shirt open in the process. Sochua tried to hold fibre will be either recycled or FSC-certified— Europe. The 27-nation bloc condemned the on to the car until someone could take a pho- a 71 percent increase from 2007 levels that unjustified trial of and verdict against Suu Kyi tograph, but the car drove away, towing her represents 600,000 tonnes of fibre. and urged her unconditional release. several metres. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi, 64, has Later, Hun Sen gave a speech to his party’s INDIAN COURT LEGALIZES spent 14 of the last 20 years in confinement. supporters in which he described Sochua as GAY SEX Her National League for Democracy won “strong leg,” a term considered degrading An Indian law drafted in 1861 that criminalized Burma’s last election, held in 1990. The result towards women. She sued him for defama- homosexual sex was thrown out on July 2. was overturned by the military. tion. Hun Sen countersued claiming that he HIV/AIDS workers believe the ruling will Suu Kyi was sentenced to additional time wasn’t referring to her in his speech and that help them fight HIV/AIDS, saying that many under house arrest for breaching the terms of her lawsuit constituted defamation of his role men refused to come out because they feared her detention after an American man swam to of prime minister. harassment by authorities. The Delhi High her residence and refused to leave. Suu Kyi Sochua said after the rally. “We are the Court ruled that homosexual sex among con- remains separated from her adult children, voice of all the people of Cambodia, but most senting adults is not a crime. The ruling is who live in Britain. Her husband, who was people are afraid to speak for fear of reprisal. expected to boost an increasingly vocal pro- denied entry into the country when he had That is why I must do what I do. I voice their gay lobby in India, a country where even cancer, died in 1997. concerns.” heterosexual affection in public is opposed by There are an estimated 2,000 political pris- She has received numerous international conservative traditionalists. oners in Burma, according to the United awards for her work on human rights, particu- The law, a throwback to colonial times, Nations. Elections are scheduled for next year larly for her efforts to stop sex trafficking, and banned “sex against the order of nature,” and under a constitution that the opposition says is is a vocal women’s rights advocate both in was widely interpreted to mean homosexual designed to entrench military rule. Cambodia and internationally. sex. —Reuters 

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analysis PRIVATE MEMBER’S BILL WOULD ERODE WOMEN’S RIGHTS

BY PAMELA CROSS, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF WOMEN AND THE LAW

In June, Conservative MP Maurice Vellacott included representatives from both the TODAY (Saskatoon-Wanuskawin) introduced Bill C- House of Commons and the Senate, where Although private member’s bills do not gen- 422, a private member’s bill which, if passed, fathers’ rights groups received consider- erally have a high level of success, would significantly change the custody and able support. The committee held hearings Vellacott’s bill has been endorsed by Rob access provisions of the Divorce Act. The that frequently featured open hostility Nicholson (Niagara, Ontario), the federal proposed changes would remove the con- towards representatives of women’s organi- minister of justice. As well, Liberal MPs have cepts of custody and access and replace zations, and where historically expressed their support for laws them with a legal presumption in favour of and child sexual abuse were routinely dis- that presume equal parenting. equal parenting. missed as not being critical issues in Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff has not Canadian women’s equality groups, custody law. Fathers’ rights groups argued commented publicly on Bill C-422. However, including the National Association of Women that family courts discriminated against in his book The Rights Revolution he wrote, and the Law and the Feminist Alliance for fathers by systematically granting custody in reference to groups supporting shared International Action, believe Bill C-422 would to mothers. parenting: “These are sensible and overdue have a serious and negative impact on the And yet, in 2006, 44 percent of custody suggestions, and the fact they are being safety and well-being of women and children cases that went to court resulted in orders made shows that men and women are strug- post-separation. The bill does not reflect the for joint custody—more than double the gling to correct the rights revolution so that realities of many Canadian families. rate in the mid-1990s and four times the rate equality works for everyone.” Children benefit from ongoing contact in the late 1980s. In other words, even with- The current Divorce Act provisions deal- with both parents when it is based on a gen- out legislation spelling out a mandatory ing with custody and access are flawed and uine interest in the child, but not when it is shared-parenting regime, courts are making long overdue for revision. However, family motivated by the desire to maintain power such determinations in nearly half the cases law reform must take account of the fact and control post-separation, as is often the that come before them. that women continue to hold most of the case when the pre-separation relationship The Joint Committee’s 1998 report, For the responsibility for child rearing and general has involved woman abuse. Sake of the Children, went on to recommend household management and tasks in most Bill C-422 does not acknowledge the seri- a presumption in favour of shared parenting Canadian families, both before and after sep- ousness of violence against women within and outlined a test to determine the best aration. The economic dependence of the family. The critieria it proposes for the interests of the child, which ignored violence women exacerbates their vulnerability to the “best interests of the child test” focus on within the family and focussed on parents’ power and control that may be exercised by preventing “parental alienation” and only commitment to maximizing contact between a spouse after divorce. mention family violence as a secondary con- the child and both parents. It envisioned sideration—and then only if it is committed highly punitive consequences for parents NAWL’S VIEW in the presence of the child. who failed to facilitate access time by the The terms and concepts of custody and access must remain in the Divorce Act and BACKGROUND other parent. the criteria for the best interests of the child Fathers’ rights lobbyists began to call for a In 2002, then justice minister Martin Cau- test must include consideration of violence presumption of joint custody when chon introduced Bill C-22, which contained against women as well as of who has been Canada’s child support guidelines were significant amendments to the Divorce Act. the primary parent in the past. introduced in 1997. These guidelines The amendments included criteria to better As long as women remain the primary streamlined the amount of child support to determine a child’s best interests; they rec- caregivers of children, women’s equality is be paid to the custodial parent (usually to ognized the relevance of family violence to in the best interests of children and law the mother) according to the incomes of the security and well-being of children and reform can and must simultaneously take the non-custodial parent (usually the eliminated the maximum contact/friendly into account and promote both the best father). The guidelines allow for a lower parent rule, while they did not include a pre- interests of children and the equality inter- amount of child support to be paid if the sumption of shared parenting or mandatory ests of women.  children spend at least 40 per cent of their mediation, as fathers’ rights groups time with each parent. favoured. Pamela Cross is a feminist family law lawyer In response to pressure from fathers’ Unfortunately, Bill C-22 died on the order and the Director of Strategic Planning with rights lobbyists, then minister of justice paper in 2002 when Parliament dissolved for the National Association of Women and the Alan Rock established a Special Joint Com- a federal election and was not re-introduced Law. Visit NAWL’s website at www.nawl.ca mittee on Child Custody and Access, which by the new government. to read NAWL’s complete brief on Bill C-422.

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Publishing a non-profit feminist magazine like Herizons is a huge BONUS! When you donate $75 or more to challenge at the best of times, and this year’s recession has Herizons, we’ll send you a FREE copy of Judy made it even more difficult. We’re really proud that self-gener- Rebick’s latest book, Transforming Power, an ated revenue from subscriptions, advertising and other sales inspiring look at how globalization and mass- make up most of Herizons’ revenue, but it isn’t enough. In order communication technology are revolutionizing to continue paying our fabulous writers and producing informed our understanding of power and producing pro- articles charting women’s triumphs and tribulations, we must found new ideas about social and political life. reach out and ask for the support of generous readers like you. If you would prefer to become a Sustaining Subscriber— Please make a donation to Herizons today and help keep the a monthly donor, just send in a cheque marked ‘Void’ indicating feminist ink flowing. Just use the handy reply envelope inside this the monthly amount you’d like to contribute. Your subscription issue to send in your donation, by cheque or credit card. will NEVER expire as long as you’re a Sustaining Subscriber. —Thank-you from Herizons: Penni Mitchell, Phil Koch, Kemlin Nembhard, Gio Guzzi and Valerie Regehr We love publishing Herizons. And readers often tell us how much they love reading it! Please make a donation today. her-047 Fall 2009 v23n2.qxp 9/11/09 12:08 PM Page 15

cole’s notes BY SUSAN G. COLE

Michael Jackson’s Swan Song

Michael Jackson’s life is a textbook case of what happens who flocked to them. Not a promising beginning. when genius meets abuse. We can learn a lot about what Queer advocates wanted to embrace Jackson as gay and, I went wrong in the life of this extraordinary talent by remem- admit, he seemed as queer as a three-dollar bill. I’m just not bering what we know about the impact of damage done early sure the label is accurate, despite the claims made in Ian in childhood. Halperin’s biography, whose release coincided with Jackson’s On stage since he was five, Jackson was a young boy death. Halperin says he has evidence of Jackson’s gayness, cit- exploited from the start. His father, Joe Jackson, knew a meal ing a number of interviews with men who say they’d had ticket when he saw one. It was Daddy Jackson who conceived encounters with the pop star. And while that may be true, I of the Jackson 5, choreographed them, managed them and think it’s more likely that Jackson was never sure who he was, kept the young Michael in line with consistent physical sexually speaking. abuse. The famous interview Michael did with CBS News He flunked as a heterosexual—his two loveless marriages features a side conversation with Joe Jackson in which Mar- attest to that. True, many construed his marriages as a cover tin Bashir asks the patriarch outright if for gayness, but they were such obvious he’d ever beaten Michael. ploys that they hardly qualify. It’s pos- His reaction is telling and hopelessly What if Jackson sible that Jackson was just terribly out delusional. “I never beat him,” Joe is of place in a culture that insists you be quoted as saying. “I whipped him with was trying to cover one thing–straight or queer. He was a belt. I never beat him. You beat some- for the fact that he probably none of the above and having one with a stick.” The abuse stopped a hell of a time fitting into the stupidly only when Michael, as an adult, told his wasn’t very interested rigid boxes that construct and con- father, “Hit me and I’ll never sing in sex at all? strain sexuality. again.” The strategy worked. And what if Jackson was trying to But the damage was done—the cover for the fact that he wasn’t very young, mercurial talent never learned who to trust, consistently interested in sex at all? Sexlessness can be a problem in a surrounding himself with either toadies who never encouraged hyper-sexualized culture. Think about how easily women are restraint from the young star or exploiters, like his dermatolo- dismissed and mocked when they embrace celibacy. A popu- gist, who took advantage of Jackson’s securities while ravaging lar rock star who was in demand and desirable to his legions his face in a series of horrifying plastic surgeries. of fans, Jackson appeared to have a fabricated sexuality. Jackson’s inability to discern who exactly was on his side is And maybe that’s what all that clutching at his crotch (to classic behaviour from abuse survivors. Researchers note that say nothing of those sketchy parties with young boys) was many survivors of abuse, especially at the hands of family about. It was so blatant, so unnerving, yet he seemed unaware members who are supposed to love them, have difficulty of how his young fans might interpret it. It was as if Michael determining when they are in unsafe situations and therefore Jackson was saying through movement, “I have no idea what put themselves into situations where they can be revictim- to do with this thing between my legs.” ized. So it went with Michael. In the end, the vultures won out, urging him to go on a And his sexuality was hopelessly messed-up. His introduc- concert tour that he could not possibly survive, physically or tion to the pleasures of Eros came via lying in a hotel room mentally. But if all the abuse and exploitation hadn’t taken on the road as his older brothers had sex with the groupies place, Jackson would not have been that vulnerable. 

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IS FEMINISM MEN’S WORK, TOO BY MANDY VAN DEVEN ?

uring my five years as a community organizer at responsibility and reducing gender bias as part of its youth Girls for in Brooklyn, I was fre- development model. Further, it aims to empower black and D quently asked to recommend a program for young Latino young women and men to develop into critical men that could help them examine gender expectations and thinkers and community leaders. These men are probably male privilege. Without hesitation, I would tell them about not the faces that immediately spring to mind when one Brotherhood/Sister Sol. imagines what a feminist looks like, though perhaps they When I first met the organization’s co-founders Khary should be. Lazarre-White and Jason Warwin in New York, I was Men like Lazarre-White and Warwin may be rare. How- impressed with their organization’s commitment to feminist ever, there have always been men who have supported principles. Lazarre-White explains why it is important for women’s greater participation in social and political spheres. men to be involved in feminist work: With her recent book Men and Feminism, Shira Tarrant has “It is essential for men to take an active role in the work to penned an introductory tome explaining the relevance of counteract sexism and because it is our responsibil- feminism to men’s lives. The book documents how men’s ity. Sexism is not the problem of women—it is the problem of promotion of women’s full citizenship can be found through- men,” he believes. “It is personally important for me to do this out history. Tarrant, a professor at California State work because I try to live my life by a moral and ethical com- University-Long Beach, traces such support back as far as pass, and I know that fighting sexism is a daily lived the philosophical work of Plato’s The Republic and Qasim responsibility—from structural organizational work decisions, Amin’s The Liberation of Women. And while her application to personal relationships, to how one lives one’s life.” of the label “feminist” may be anachronistic, her point that Brotherhood/Sister Sol is committed to deconstructing male support of women’s subjugation has never been univer- sexism and misogyny, promoting sexual education and sal is well taken.

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Illustration: Karen Justl

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And yet the idea of a male feminist as either mythic or equality. One of them is John Savel, an education profes- oxymoronic persists today. The reasoning seems to be that sional in Ann Arbor, Michigan, who spoke about gender since feminism is a struggle about women gaining rights, conditioning. “I have serious anxiety issues,” he explains, there is no legitimate role for men in that struggle. “and I have been wondering if part of that has to do with the However, Rick Taylor, a professor of English and women’s pressure I have [to be traditionally masculine] and my failure studies at East Carolina University, offers proof that men to act that way.” As Savel demonstrates, feminism makes visible the ways gender expectations shape our experiences and opportuni- ties. In contrast to the notion that feminist men are either “whipped” or else pretending to support women’s rights in order to get laid, many men are strong allies in the gender equity movement. Modern-day activists like Martin Dufresne of Montreal Men Against Sexism and anti-porn activist Robert Jensen are furthering a male feminist agenda and using their own experiences and perspectives to convince other men that feminism supports people of all gender identities. Although Montreal Men Against Sexism (1979–2003) is no longer active, during its heyday the group worked to dis- credit the emerging anti-feminist “men’s rights” groups in Quebec. Former director Dufresne says, “I may be an incur- able optimist, but I really think patriarchy has become unstable and is in the process of being brought down. I con- sider myself lucky to live at this time and be part of this process, along with my feminist friends whose political intel- ligence constantly awes me.” The Coexist Initiative (Kenya), Men for Change Khary Lazarre-White co-founded New York’s Brotherhood/Sisterhood Sol. (Canada), Samyak (India) and the Men’s Resource Centre of Saskatoon also work to move feminism forward around the globe. But the challenge of undoing institutionalized male have an important role to play. He shared his thoughts on privilege is complicated, and because institutional privilege is why it is too simplistic for men to say they are feminists largely invisible to those who have it, men must be rigorous because they care about women’s issues. in their attempts at self-reflection. “Feminism is an important part of my identity and belief From the White Ribbon Campaign (Canada) to Men system. It informs my professional life, my home life, my Can Stop Rape (U.S.), to Program H (Brazil), anti-violence sense of spirituality, and my sense of my own past,” he work is perhaps that most common form of male feminist explains. “It’s a response to the terrible damage done by activism. Perhaps the most oft-cited example of male femi- gender oppression and continued inequality, and an expres- nism since its inception in 1991, on the second anniversary sion of the urge within towards liberation and freedom of of The Montreal Massacre, the White Ribbon Campaign self-expression.” has become the largest male-led effort worldwide to educate Feminist theorists such as bell hooks, Alice Jardin, boys and men about gender violence. In Canada, the organ- Aaronette M. White and Rubaiyat Hossain have written ization coordinates an annual national public awareness about the many ways feminism benefits men in addition to campaign that begins on the International Day for the women. Those benefits include increased societal acceptance Eradication of Violence Against Women (November 26) of people who do not conform to rigid gender binaries, pri- and ends twelve days later on Canada’s National Day of oritizing fatherhood in the lives of children and decreasing Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women the emotional stress of being the sole or primary financial (December 6) while supporting locally organized events provider for one’s family—which, in turn, can positively throughout the year. affect mental and physical health. Physical and sexual violence has prompted many feminist Today, an increasing number of feminist men are speaking men to lead violence prevention work around the world, par- for themselves about why and how they support gender ticularly with other men. By modelling anti-sexist behaviour,

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Khary Lazarre-White and Jason Warwin’s efforts to develop feminist practices for boys and men are part of a growing movement driven by a desire to create a pro-feminist generation of men.

men teach each other to see the ways one’s gender is socially of other men’s apathy about and complicity in sexism.” Flood constructed and works to shape one’s thoughts, actions and also noted that men are able to draw on institutional privi- sense of entitlement. lege to attract levels of support and funding rarely granted to Taylor explains: “I would guess that men who grow up in women. “This can of course be turned to strategic advan- abusive or alcoholic environments tend either to reproduce tage,” he concluded. them as adults or fight against them.” For many men, the The danger in invoking that privilege, of course, is that it choice is the latter. may marginalize women’s voices in their own movement, As Australian sociologist Michael Flood writes in “Engag- inadvertently reinforcing patriarchal values. Ignoring these ing Men in Ending Men’s Violence against Women,” issues also prevents male feminists from acknowledging any including boys and men in feminist advocacy does make a benefits they receive from institutional sexism. Many women difference. But the task of enacting social change is at times have called men to task for enacting their male privilege, only fraught with complications, especially if men’s strategies to to hear a defensive denial in response. This isn’t necessarily a combat sexism do not involve analyzing and disassembling response specific to men; it is a response that arises in all their own power, empowering women, or both. people with privilege. White anti-racist activists also fail, at For example, anti-violence programs run by men for men times, to recognize their privilege, even when people of can unexpectedly reinforce men’s position of social author- colour point out ways in which they hold on to their power. ity and undermine the legitimacy of women’s voices by Possessing privilege means one has the ability to choose subtly conveying through the structure of the program that not to be aware of that privilege when it isn’t convenient. In violence against women is unacceptable only because a time when one feels defensive, the best initial response is to another man says it is. listen, listen and then listen some more. Swedish artist Gabriel Bohm Calles explains: “It’s what “The most difficult challenge, and one that I had to con- other men think that counts. And the pressure men live front very early, was the assumption that by privilege of being under in their lives mostly comes from other men.” male I had something interesting to say,” offers Ashvin Kini, What Calles is saying is that it is possible to shift the dia- a graduate student of literature at UC-San Diego and writer logue without changing the underlying power dynamic. for the Feminist Review blog. “I needed to learn to shut up, Therefore, an ideal program model is one co-facilitated by sit back and LISTEN. While I wholeheartedly believe that men and women in order to model the type of egalitarian men should identify as feminist, that means being able to behaviour one wishes to promote. recognize our need to listen and reflect.” This dynamic was addressed by Flood, who told dele- Kini concludes, “I may identify as feminist, but I do not gates at the Australian Women Speak: Inaugural National always have the right to offer my opinion on feminist issues.” Women’s Conference in 2001 that “responses to men’s For male feminists, maintaining an awareness of their involvement in gender issues are themselves shaped by own privilege in order to vigilantly disassemble male dom- patriarchal privilege.” inance is crucial. It is not enough to talk the talk; one must First, Flood noted, men’s groups often receive greater also incorporate principles of equality into one’s daily life. media attention and interest compared to similar groups of This means not only treating individual women with women. “This is partly the result of the former’s novelty,” respect (for example, sharing household and child care he told the conference, “but it is also a function of the sta- responsibilities, encouraging women’s financial independ- tus and cultural legitimacy granted to men’s voices in ence and economic success) and refusing to be complicit general.” when other men demonstrate sexist behaviour, but also Flood went on to say that “men acting for gender justice taking steps to shift societal dynamics that benefit men as receive praise and credit [especially from women] which is a group (such as raising awareness about the links between often out of proportion to their efforts.” In other words, “any dominant constructions of masculinity and gender-based positive action by men may be seen as gratifying in the face violence, promoting reproductive justice policies and

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As more men enter traditionally pink-collar professions such as nursing and primary school education, rigid standards of masculinity are slowly changing.

rejecting unearned authority). know that the time when women stood alone in speaking out Confronting male privilege requires an intersectional against discrimination and violence … is coming to an end. analysis of oppression that includes class, race, sexuality, geo- We are gathering not simply to celebrate our first successes, graphic location and gender identity. And it means but, with all the strength we possess, to appeal to parents, recognizing that while individual power varies, in most teachers, and coaches, to the media and businesses, to our places around the world men receive institutional benefits governments, NGOs, religious institutions and the United and power to the detriment of women. Nations, to mobilize the political will and economic Being accountable for the deconstruction of male privi- resources required to increase the scale and impact of work lege means men should find creative ways to undermine with men and boys to promote gender equality.” and disassemble patriarchy, instead of pulling the rug out The men who organized the Global Symposium on from under women. This might take the form of organiza- Engaging Men & Boys in Achieving Gender Equality are tions run by men rejecting unearned benefits for their taking male feminism to the next level. They are attempt- involvement in gender equity work and steering media and ing to move beyond smaller, short-term interventions potential financial supporters toward like-minded organi- toward long-term, large-scale change. The conference zations run by women. It can mean men use the yielded a plan of action for individuals, governments, com- remuneration of their privilege to tap into male-dominated munity-based organizations, media and entertainment resources that are less accessible to women. It means taking professionals, donors and private sector workers to incorpo- steps to build a dialogue and a strategy that support and rate feminism into their lives and work. centralize women’s needs, strengths and abilities to make On an individual level, more men are taking classes or self-determined choices. majoring in women’s studies than ever before. We are begin- Filmmaker Byron Hurt does this in Beyond Beats and ning to see new models of masculinity in “bromance” films, Rhymes, a documentary that explores “masculinity, sexism, a sign that men are becoming increasingly aware of them- violence and homophobia in today’s hip hop culture.” selves as gendered. As more men enter traditionally Instead of blaming an amorphous “hip hop culture” for pink-collar professions such as nursing and primary school women’s degradation, Hurt turns the lens to focus squarely education, rigid standards of masculinity are slowly chang- on the part men play in creating a limited conception of ing, binary gender roles are challenged and new models of black masculinity that imprisons both men and women. He what author Shira Tarrant calls “anti-racist, class-conscious, does this by featuring interviews with men and women, put- pro-queer, feminist manhood” are created. ting the onus for developing solutions on men. Gender inequality is a historic inheritance that an increas- In March 2009, the Global Symposium on Engaging Men ing number of men are disavowing. Men’s involvement in the & Boys in Achieving Gender Equality took place in Rio de women’s rights movement can help create better, more equi- Janeiro. The first worldwide gathering of its kind, the con- table models for future generations of boys and girls. Full ference brought together 450 participants from 80 countries social, political and economic equality may still be a long way and organizations including Brazil’s Promundo Institute and away, but the movement is more effective working in concert Instituto Papai, Canada’s White Ribbon Campaign, the with male feminist allies. United States’ Save the Children and several coalition organ- As Lazarre-White puts it, “The issues of gender inequity, izations like MenEngage Global Alliance and the United of structural sexism, of misogyny and the objectifying of Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The four-day explo- women as commerce and property—these issues will not be ration of men and feminism ended with a declaration that deconstructed merely by women talking with girls. Men includes a call to action for men and boys to support the must take responsibility as well for this work. And we should feminism worldwide. not be commended for it. It is what evolved, ethical, moral The declaration states, in part: “We are here because we men should be expected to do.” 

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YVETTE NOLAN TAKES CENTRE

STAGEBY SHAWNA DEMPSEY

he daughter of an Algonquin mother and an Irish they are executed to meet Nolan’s high standards. father, Yvette Nolan embodies the central struggles “Visibility is not enough,” says Nolan, who is a playwright. T of Canada’s history, its nationhood and its identity. “To take our place on Canadian stages, we must excel.” Like many immigrants, her father left the country of his And excel she does. The 48-year-old recently rose to a birth to escape poverty and persecution. Like many Aborig- challenge no other Aboriginal theatre artist in this country inal children, Nolan’s mother was removed from her family has ever been given: She directed a mainstage production at at the age of seven and sent first to a sanatorium, then to a the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. residential school. I asked Nolan how they met. In May 2009, she remounted the 1967 classic The Ecstasy “He was her math teacher,” says Nolan, wryly. “I am the of Rita Joe with an all-Aboriginal creative team. Rita Joe is product of the residential school system. Quite literally.” often cited as the beginning of contemporary English-Cana- Nolan knows the importance of telling complex truths, of dian theatre. It marked the entrance of fully formed spinning them into stories that educate, illuminate and Aboriginal characters onto a Canadian stage and caused a transform. As artistic director of Native Earth Performing sensation when it was chosen to be the first English play at Arts, Canada’s oldest Aboriginal theatre company, she brings the newly opened National Arts Centre in 1969. Yet the narratives to life, creating magical and moving tales that director, composer and choreographer of that production refute the racial stereotyping, sentimentalization, historiciza- were white, as was playwright George Ryga. Even Rita Joe tion and marginalization of Aboriginal peoples. Those was portrayed by a white actor.

Photo: Alix Phillipe stories are specific—rich in idiosyncrasy and detail—and At the time, its content was shocking. Ryga described the

HERIZONS FALL 2009 23 her-047 Fall 2009 v23n2.qxp 9/10/09 1:31 PM Page 24

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story as “an odyssey through hell of an Indian woman,” that by a stint in San Diego for Native Voices at the Autry, where hell being the racism and violence of an average Canadian Nolan directed Dawn Dumont’s play Fancy Dancer. city. What was revelatory in 1969 is all the more appalling Despite the challenges of maintaining a freelance artistic today, when one considers how little has changed. Although career and running a small not-for-profit arts organization, Nolan made no alterations to the original text, the play Nolan has also volunteered to build the infrastructure neces- remains eerily timely in a country where an estimated 500 sary for Canadian and native theatre movements. She was Aboriginal women are missing and possibly have been mur- the president of the Playwrights Union of Canada from 1998 dered. Nolan says this made the 2009 restaging essential. to 2001, president of Playwrights Canada Press from 2003 to “Now we can’t talk about Rita Joe in the past tense. We 2005, and president of the Indigenous Performing Arts have to acknowledge she’s still here.” Alliance from 2005 to 2007. Nolan first saw the Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s adaptation of As a result, she can rightly claim a national perspective. The Ecstasy of Rita Joe as a child living in Winnipeg. It was “On the one hand,” she observes, “we have come a long way. the first time she saw a representation of someone like her- Aboriginal theatre is now more sophisticated. We have self—an Aboriginal girl—on stage. Nolan recalls how she more trained artists and more international relationships. and her mother shared a secret language based on The Ecstasy Mainstream theatres are starting to pick up our scripts. On of Rita Joe. They would refer to a good-looking young native the other hand, there are only five Aboriginal theatre com- man as Jamie Paul (a character in the play) and they shared panies in Canada and no dedicated theatre spaces. Rita Joe’s sentiment that the cement of the city made their Increasingly, in these hard economic times, there will be less feet hurt. to go around, and those with historical power will cling For Nolan, having her experience reflected back to her was more tightly to resources.” both powerful and formative, Nolan also notes a more and led to her commitment to insidious problem facing Abo- indigenous and feminist live “We can’t talk about Rita Joe riginal theatre. “The idea of art. The first script she wrote in the past tense. We have to Aboriginal people in the was Blade (1990), a play about abstract is so much more the media’s sexualization of vic- acknowledge she’s still here.” appealing than the reality of tims of violence. Blade was —Yvette Nolan us,” she observes. “People are immediately followed by always saying how important Everybody’s Business (1990), the Aboriginal theatre is. But does first AIDS education play to tour schools and prisons on that translate into bums in seats? Do people actually want to the Prairies. hear what we have to say?” The next decade was an intense time of writing for Nolan, Nolan hopes they do. And she’s working to engage a culminating in Annie Mae’s Movement (1999), about Annie diverse audience. Native Earth’s upcoming 2009-10 season Mae Pictou Aquash, a Mi’kmaq female leader in the Amer- includes a full-fledged opera in three languages: English, ican Indian Movement who was found murdered in 1976. French and Algonquin. Entitled Giiwedin, the libretto by Annie Mae’s Movement was significant in that it re-examined Spy Dénommé-Welch tells the story of a 150-year-old contemporary Aboriginal history from an Aboriginal per- woman fighting for her land. The opera will be staged at spective, while simultaneously exploring the gender politics Toronto’s venerable Theatre Passe Muraille in April 2010 within Aboriginal leadership. The play stormed the country’s and may well be the most ambitious production in Native theatres, from the Hardly Act Theatre in the to East- Earth’s 27-year history. Nolan’s fearlessness is matched only ern Front’s On the Waterfront Festival in Halifax, with by her creative vision and commitment to telling tales truly. productions by Winnipeg’s Red Roots Theatre and Toronto’s “Sometimes I wonder if we can ever get over coloniza- Native Earth in between. tion and tell other stories,” Nolan muses. “Not in my Nolan continues to work as a playwright and theatre direc- lifetime! There is no such thing as post-colonization at tor since being appointed artistic director of Native Earth this point.” Performing Arts in 2003. Wearing so many hats can be gru- Nolan laughs. She’s tackling the central, nasty fact that has elling. On May 1 of this year, her NAC production of Rita Joe made us a nation, and she’s doing it with heart, intelligence opened to a standing ovation. Two days later she was off to and theatre.  England’s Origins Festival of First Nations Creative Arts, Shawna Dempsey has been creating fun and fun feminist where Native Earth was presenting Almighty Voice and His performance art projects with her collaborator Lorri Millan Wife by Daniel David Moses. That was immediately followed since 1989.

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STANDING their GROUND HOW WOMEN AND CIVIL SOCIETY GROUPS BANDED TOGETHER TO PROTEST AFGHANISTAN’S SHIA PERSONAL STATUS LAW

BY LAURYN OATES

n July, Afghanistan’s Ministry of Justice announced sev- eral revisions to the now infamous Shia Personal Status I Law. The law, signed by President Hamid Karzai in April, contains 249 articles regulating marriage and family life for the country’s Shia minority, who account for an esti- mated 20 to 30 percent of the population. Many of the articles violate women’s rights. Among them are provisions that require Shia women to seek their hus- bands’ permission before leaving home, force them to submit to their husbands’ demands for sex, and discourage them from working outside the home. The law drew condemna- tion from the Afghan women’s movement as well as from Western leaders for its -like overtones. Afghan women’s organizations and other Afghan civil society groups called for changes to the law, which they say violates Article 22 of the country’s constitution. The article guarantees that men and women are equal before the law and Male counter-protesters gather in front of Kabul mosque. expressly prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender. Afghanistan is also a party to the international Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against the law was pushed through Parliament without a full and Women, which critics argue makes the new law moot. proper debate. Opponents to the law deplored not only its content, but also Shinkai Kharokhail, a Member of Parliament representing the process by which it became a law. There were numerous Kabul, was one of the first to criticize the irregularities, long irregularities in the legislative process, which critics suggest before the international media and diplomatic community in were arranged at the behest of Sheikh Mohammad Asif Kabul took up the cause. She accused Karzai of pandering to Mohseni, the Iran-backed Shia cleric who initiated the law. Mohseni, a Shia religious conservative, in order to win his They charge that Mohseni traded political favours to ensure camp’s support in the August election.

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“People were emotionally blackmailed or pressured from working with civil society groups, went to work carrying out the top that this law should be granted to them,” she said. their own review of the law. “They were saying things like, ‘They deserve that because “We studied it and finally we found that the people who they are a minority.’ ‘It’s the first time they are getting their drafted this bill relied on the most extremist interpretations,” law.’ ‘No one has the right to interfere.’ ‘Show your unity.’” she explained, stressing that there is a range of jurisprudence sources available in Shiism. Members of the Shia community also mobilized against the law before and after its signing by President Karzai. The majority of Shias in Afghanistan are of Hazara ethnicity, unlike the law’s architect, Mohseni, a Shia from Kandahar who is of Persian descent. Hazaras are known for their pro- gressive views on women’s rights as well as for embracing social development and education. Many resented what they saw as Mohseni seeking to gain more influence among Haz- ara Shias while propagating a more conservative brand of Islam. His ownership of a vast mosque complex in Kabul, which includes a madrassah, a university, television and radio station, has also been criticized. Many believe these institu- tions to be funded by the Iranian government, something Mohseni denies. The Kateb Institute of Higher Education, a new univer- sity in Kabul founded by a group of progressive Shia scholars in 2007, was one group that actively mobilized to reform the Women’s rights advocate Amed Alizaa speaks to a crowd gathered to protest the Per- law when it was still in Afghanistan’s lower house of parlia- sonal Shia Law passed by Afghanistan’s Parliament. ment, the Wolesi Jirga. In partnership with the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, the faculty organ- ized a three-day seminar and invited Afghan and Iranian religious scholars to make recommendations on ways to bring the law into conformity with international human rights conventions, while also being consistent with Shia jurisprudence. While they succeeded in getting several of their recommendations into the version of the law Parlia- ment signed off on, the vast majority of their reforms were rejected. The scholars pointed out that the original draft was far worse than what the international media saw. “The code had a lot of defects,” explains Gholam Haydar Allama, the dean of Kateb’s law school. Originally, it had a minimum marriage age for girls of nine. That was raised to 16 years in the revised draft, but they had aimed for 18 years. They also managed to secure changes to women’s custody rights and brought several conditions to the articles that required women to obtain their husbands’ permission to Policewomen form a barrier between women protesting a law that strips women from the Shia minority of their rights, and male counter-protesters. leave the house, but they were unable to have the articles removed altogether. Kharokhail was blocked in her attempts to sit in on meet- Allama also criticized the law-making procedures sur- ings of the main committee tasked with reviewing the bill. rounding the Shia Personal Status law. The first problem, he She even had difficulty obtaining a copy of the bill, which says, was that the law was drafted by the Shia Mullahs had been distributed only to male Shia parliamentarians. Council under Mohseni’s leadership and outside any govern- While she was initially a lone voice in speaking out against ment office. the bill, Kharokhail was gradually joined by other men and “It is illegal that a group of mullahs should write a legal women MPs who supported her call for the bill to be code. In light of the rule of law, it is the government’s duty reformed and for a proper parliamentary debate. The MPs, to write laws,” he says.

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Gendering the Nation-State This tightly argued collection responds to two Canadian and Comparative Perspectives questions about women’s involvement in public Yasmeen Abu-Laban Edited by life: are the doors to participation open wider than in the past? How can the doors be opened Gendering the Nation-State wider, both in terms of real-world participation explores the gendered and a scholarly understanding of political dimensions of a fundamental engagement? organizational unit in social and ISBN: 978-0-7748-1563-5 hardcover political science – the nation- state. Yasmeen Abu-Laban Sapphistries has drawn together work by A Global History of Love between Women both high-profile and emerging Leila J. Rupp scholars to rescue gender Every decade or so, a brave thinker makes an from the margins of theoretical attempt to chart the historical maps of women discussions on the nation, loving women. Rupp’s contribution is perhaps the state, public policy, and one of the most elegant and interesting – citizenship. making up for lapses of the past, Sapphistries New in Paperback sails an international course, giving us a rich ISBN: 978-0-7748-1466-9 mix of historical sources and an even richer gift of asking questions at just the right places. – Joan Nestle, co-editor of GenderQueer ISBN: 978-0-7748-1782-0 paperback order online: www.ubcpress.ca Forthcoming, December 2009 (Canadian Rights Only)

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Perhaps the most remarkable response from within the a 14-year-old girl that followed reports that he had allegedly Shia community, however, came when a group of young Shia raped the girl and killed her brother. women came together to organize a public demonstration The protestors claimed they were there to murder against the law. The women were not affiliated with any Royesh, and one attacker was later killed as police women’s organizations, but rather came from Shia neigh- attempted to gain control of the crowd. Royesh responded, bourhoods in Kabul and had heard about the law through saying; “the night before that attack, the TV station prop- friends and relatives. They used their cellphones, email and agated people to go attack the school and stop their paper flyers they distributed in Shia areas of Kabul and to anti-Islamic activities … saying we were preaching Chris- high schools throughout the city. tianity and anti-Islamic activities, talking like this, Saqena, a student who helped organize the demonstration, regarding the school as a centre of prostitution. It was so explained the low level of awareness inside the community. irresponsible. But, you know, we did not react against “We discovered that most people do not know anything them. We kept ourselves calm. We tried to reopen the about the law,” said Saqena (not her real name). “That was our first challenge, because we couldn’t ask people to protest against what they didn’t know.” They reached out to other women, holding sessions in the evenings. “There was a woman in Balchi. She has a carpentry work- shop,” Saqena continued. “There are some women who work for her and there is a literacy class. We thought it would be very good if we had workshops there because there are women from all different backgrounds. There were women who were in Iran during the war, women who never left Kabul, women who had just started literacy classes.” The protest organizers opposed not only the content of the law, but also Mohseni’s claim that he spoke for them. “Mohseni had said most women support this law. This was the main thing that motivated us. We didn’t have any way to say, ‘No, we don’t support the law.’ That’s why we wanted to

do this,” says Sohaila, another organizer. A policewoman on duty at Kabul protests against the Personal Shia Law has her On April 15, they took to the streets with painted pieces of photo taken. (Photo: Fakhria Ibrahimi) cloth, changing the location at the last minute after learning that Mohseni announced the location of the demonstration on his television station and urged students from his madras- school two days after the attack. We had an opening cere- sah to hold a counter-demonstration. The women were mony at the school, with flowers, and we repaired the determined to hold a peaceful vigil. damage, the broken glass.” “We decided we would not shout—nothing. It was sup- In post-Taliban Afghanistan, taking on fundamentalist posed to be a very quiet demonstration: gathering and forces remains ridden with risk. Young women like Sohaila silence—nothing else,” explains Sohaila (a pseudonym). and Saqena continue to live with the fallout of their actions The protest received extensive coverage in the Western long after the international media stops paying attention. But media, and viewers around the world watched as women were they insist it is a necessary strategy. pelted with stones by Mohseni’s students. Policewomen “Mohseni was saying that all Shia women want this law, joined arms to form a protective barrier around the demon- and we needed to show that wasn’t true. We didn’t have a tel- strators. The group was not more than 200 strong, but a evision station, an organization, a school. So this was a tool. much larger group of women, on their way from a Shia We could send our message out to the public to say, we are neighbourhood in western Kabul, had been blocked by a Shia women and we don’t support this,” states Saqena. band of Mohseni supporters from joining them. While women were not successful at having the law Later that day, about 40 Mohseni supporters arrived at the thrown out, the force of their courage—demonstrating in the front entrance of a Hazara school in west Kabul founded by streets, joining other civil society groups to undertake a a rival of Mohseni, the pro-democracy activist and leading review of the law, speaking out publicly—is a clear sign that Shia intellectual Aziz Royesh, who was a vocal critic of the Afghan women will continue to be a force to be reckoned Shia law. In the past, Royesh criticized Mohseni’s marriage to with in post-Taliban Afghanistan. 

HERIZONS FALL 2009 29 her-047 Fall 2009 v23n2.qxp 9/10/09 1:14 PM Page 30 CATHERINE MacLELLAN FINDS OUTLET IN SONGWRITING BY BRETT BUNDALE

atherine MacLellan has music in her blood. The Islander learned about songwriting from her C father, Gene MacLellan, who wrote hits like “Snowbird” and “Put Your Hand in the Hand” for recording legend Anne Murray. “I grew up with music all around me,” the songwriter says following the launch of her latest album, Water in the Ground. “When my dad passed away, I spent a lot of time hanging out in my room alone with my guitar. That’s when I started writing songs. It was an emo- tional outlet.” Over the last few years, the 28-year-old has garnered international attention, touring with Bruce Cockburn and sell- ing out performances in Paris, Berlin her-047 Fall 2009 v23n2.qxp 9/10/09 1:14 PM Page 31

“I recognize, again and again, that music is most certainly a boys’ club.” —Catherine MacLellan

and New York. Then, three years ago, MacLellan found out ily resides. she was pregnant and almost gave it all up. “Having my daughter in my life changes my perspective on “I had to make a pretty major decision to either take 10 everything—it’s not just about me anymore. It’s a much big- years off and do something else or really make a go of being ger picture.” a single mother and a musician,” she explains. “I made the The musician explains, “It’s great to be able to leave Isabel choice to forge ahead with my passion. I want my daughter with my mom while I go on tour. But two weeks is the limit. to know that I’m happy doing what I love.” I still don’t have a regular routine—some people find one, With her daughter Isabel in tow, MacLellan is breaking but it takes a long time to figure out as a musician, especially waves on the indie music scene across Canada. when you’re on tour.” “I’ve found a way to balance the two most important When she first started her career, most people recog- things in my life—motherhood and music,” she says. nized Catherine through the filter of her being Gene On a recent stop in Fredericton, N.B., MacLellan cut MacLellan’s daughter. through the crowd at a local bar with her pure and ethereal “People would come up to me out of nowhere and be really vocals, which have garnered comparisons to Joni Mitchell. interested in my career because they knew my dad’s music,” “I used to hate playing in bars because there are always she said. “It was kind of a weird thing for me at first, but it’s people getting drunk and talking over you,” she recalls. also really sweet.” “Now I just see it as a challenge and I try to lure them into Despite having now made a name for herself both on and the music.” off the Island, MacLellan has struggled to break into an While performing, she cracks jokes between songs, evoking industry where women are still too often assumed incapable the sense of humour and stage presence of Ani Difranco. or not knowledgeable until they prove themselves. “I’m still not divorced,” she says with a laugh to the stand- “I recognize, again and again, that music is most cer- ing-room-only crowd. “It’s just sort of one of those things on tainly a boys’ club,” she observes. “It took me a while to my list of things to do.” really notice, because I’ve always kind of been one of the Water in the Ground, her third release, was recorded in an boys. But there is a feeling of exclusivity that can be very old log cabin on Prince Edward Island along with other local off-putting.” musicians and prominent Canadian roots artists like “It’s always surprising when a woman is really talented. Toronto-based Treasa Levasseur. ‘Wow, she’s really good for a girl’ is a very common phrase I “The last couple of albums that I did were solo,” hear. That was how it was for me, until I had played enough MacLellan said. “So this time having a recording process and found my own confidence and strength to lead my own with all the local musicians together was so lovely. We just show and speak for myself.” sort of held up for four days and recorded the album dur- Her talent certainly speaks for itself. MacLellan is selling ing the day, and at night had supper with lots of wine down out shows from Halifax to Vancouver. In September, she is the road at a friend’s house.” touring Western Canada as part of the Sirens of Song con- MacLellan spent the last few years based in Halifax, cert series, along with Lyn Miles, Melanie Doane and but recently returned to the Island, where most of her fam- Annabelle Chvostek. 

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Ashwini Shetty, member of the Consortium of Pub-going, Loose and Forward Women, sorts piles of pink underwear on Valentine’s Day before they are sent in protest to the far-right Hindu group Ram Sene, whose members attacked young women drinking in a bar in southern India. (Photo: PAL PILLAI/AFP/Getty Images)

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Making a STATEMENT GENDER ROLES IN INDIA SLOWLY CHANGING

BY KAJ HASSELRLIS

hen I boarded the train from Ajmer to Delhi, I their marital partners. sat down on the padded bench in my compart- In India, signs of this generational culture clash are every- W ment and immediately noticed a young girl where—on billboards, for example. One, for a department sitting across from me. She was 12 or 13 years old and wore store, shows a woman wearing a sari timidly averting her gaze an unusual outfit—jeans and a T-shirt. from the camera, along with this contradictory message to In Canada, there would be nothing strange about that. But women: “Make a statement without speaking!” Another bill- this was India, and the girl’s mother wore a traditional sari. board depicts Bollywood movie star Priyanka Chopra proudly Considering the girl’s age, I would have expected her to be piloting a shiny new motor scooter. The message on her bill- dressed the same. But that wasn’t my only surprise. Soon board: “Why should boys have all the fun?” after the train left the station, the girl asked me in English if The times are changing. During my trip to India earlier she could read my morning newspaper. I handed her my this year, I met many young women who are breaking gen- copy of the Times of India. der traditions—people like Hyderabad’s Deepthi Tanikella, After four months in India, I had grown accustomed to a screenwriter and TV talk-show host. She picked me up in having little social contact with women and girls. The her car and drove me to Firefly, a nightclub on the top floor women who are out in public don’t often talk to men, I of a high-rise shopping mall. There, Deepthi introduced me observed, especially white foreigners like me. And even if to the manager, Jas Charanjiva, a charismatic, fast-talking they wanted to, they couldn’t since most don’t speak English, native of Scarborough, Ontario. Jas, now a citizen of both the language of the middle and upper classes. That’s why it the U.K. and the U.S., came to Hyderabad with her Indian never occurred to me to offer my English newspaper to the husband when he was hired to introduce Mars bars to the girl in my compartment. But she quickly devoured it. local market. After she was done, I handed her my copy of Newsweek While Jas greeted customers and Deepthi ordered drinks, International with Michelle and on the I admired the city’s skyline and chatted with a young woman cover, and the only other magazine I had—the Indian edi- named Neela, who introduced herself as the DJ’s girlfriend. tion of People. Like the American version, it is filled with “Girlfriend” isn’t a term I was used to hearing in India. But photos and profiles of rich, young starlets. Except in this Neela explained that dating in India is finally becoming case, they’re Indian celebrities daring to do things that the more common. Until about 10 years ago, she said, women girl’s mother’s generation would rarely have done: express and men who pursued each other did so in private. Now, their own opinions, work outside the home, date and choose more couples are dating in the open. I noticed this trend at

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“A visionary and inspiring book” —Majority Coalition Canada

“ While this book offers tremendous hope, it also presents daunting challenges. It won’t be easy to change the way we’ve lived for the past 60-odd years…. If you have niggling doubts about staying on the train we’ve been riding, you should read Transforming Power.” —The Globe and Mail

“Amid technological changes, economic collapse, global pushes for democracy, an environmental crisis and new leadership emerging in key areas of the planet, activist Judy Rebick sees hope.” —The London Free Press

Join the discussion at transformingpower.ca

penguin.ca

Penguin Full (fall-09).indd 1 31/08/09 2:34 PM her-047 Fall 2009 v23n2.qxp 9/10/09 1:14 PM Page 35

Indian poster bears feminist message.

Women, college students and other citizens protested the Mangalore pub attack. India’s Sri Ram Sena leader Pramod Mutalik is (Photo: pics4news.com) accused of orchestrating an attack on women in a Mangalore pub.

fancy new coffee shops all over India—young couples sip- Of course, not all Indian women can part with pairs of ping lattes together, often holding hands under the tables. underwear, nor do they all have access to Facebook. Unlike But there is also a backlash against the liberalization of Deepthi, Jas, Neela and the pink chaddi wearers, most sex and gender traditions in India. In January, about 40 women in the country are marginalized and uneducated. For protesters affiliated with the far-right political group Sri the most part, the survival of women in India depends on Ram Sena stormed a pub in Mangalore, accused customers trickle-down economics. And yet, during my four months of of violating traditional Indian values and assaulted several commercial transactions in the country, I rarely put my women. Soon after, in Rajasthan, the state’s chief minister money directly into the hands of a woman. Ashok Gehlot was criticized for saying he was “against In some ways, Western-style capitalism is putting more boys and girls walking hand-in-hand in pubs and malls.” money into the hands of women. European and North Protests against the pub attack organized by students and American companies are swooping into India, setting up vast women’s groups followed. Then, in February, the same call centres and hiring men and women in relatively equal group that claimed responsibility for the Mangalore pub numbers, and for better pay than many other jobs available to attacks tried to prohibit unmarried couples from celebrat- women. In information technology hubs like Hyderabad and ing Valentine’s Day—an event that has only recently been Bangalore, it’s increasingly common to see young men and celebrated in India. women taking work breaks together. The fight over open dating and women’s rights is passionate. On my last night in India, I was at a restaurant in Kolkata After the Valentine’s Day threat, a group of feminists calling when two 20-something couples arrived for a late dinner. For themselves The Consortium of Pub-going, Loose and For- a while, one of the men broke off from the group and sat at a ward Women launched a Pink Chaddi Campaign. The separate table, where he cradled a baby until the boy fell campaign asked women to mail in their pink chaddis (under- asleep. It was the first time I had seen a father in India hold- wear) so that they could be sent to groups like Sri Ram Sena. ing his child in public. Over 48,000 people joined the group’s Facebook page and sev- It was a welcome sign that as women make greater strides eral hundred tossed their underwear in the mail. in India, men’s roles may be slowly shifting, too. 

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arts culture MUSIC

REGINA SPEKTOR diluted at all. And that alone speaks to her You can sample Healing Dreams (and other FAR vision as an artist, one her fans will hopefully mbira recordings) and learn more about Shona Warner stick with as she continues to evolve and offer culture at www.mbira.org, the educational up some gorgeously constructed songs. non-profit organization Azim founded in 1998. REVIEW BY ANNA LAZOWSKI For those new to acoustic mbira, the buzz With the release of her latest album, one of ERICA AZIM you will hear emanates from bottle caps or the pre-eminent voices of New York’s anti-folk metal beads that are attached to both the scene is starting to feel a little bit of backlash HEALING DREAMS MBIRA instrument and the large gourd resonator in from her fans. Online chatter about Regina which the instrument is placed. This buzz is Spektor’s new disc, Far, finds many missing REVIEW BY SHEILA NOPPER intended to calm the chatter in your head so the quirkiness that brought this piano-playing Back in the ’70s, when Erica Azim was still a that you can receive the healing spiritual chanteuse to the forefront. teenager, she became entranced by the sweet vibrations from the mbira tunes. And there’s some merit to those accusa- polyrhythmic melodies of the mbira dzvadzimu, tions. Spektor is definitely exploring a more a sacred instrument that has been used for LILY ALLEN mainstream sound, but these tracks are hardly centuries by the Shona people of Zimbabwe to going to turn up anywhere on the weekly Top communicate with their ancestors. While not IT’S NOT ME, IT’S YOU 40. Rather than becoming more mainstream, of African descent, Azim’s passionate desire to EMI it’s probably more appropriate to say Spektor is learn how to play mbira according to its cul- REVIEW BY ANNA LAZOWSKI simply refining her sound. She’s explored the tural origins has led her to become one of the The inversion within the title, It’s Not Me, It’s role of quirky female solo act and now she’s fil- first North Americans and one of the few You, gives a clear indication that Lily Allen is a ing down some of those edges without losing women of her generation to be recognized as musician unafraid to speak her mind. And on her uniqueness as a musician. a gweniambira, a master mbira player. her second album she continues to do so with One of the best ways to judge a songwriter’s The tones produced by the mbira (pro- a sense of humour. This disc is loaded with the talent is by listening to how they can take a nounced mmbeerah) are somewhat kind of cleverly written and catchy radio- simple idea or image and translate it into a suc- reminiscent of a piano. Yet the circular struc- friendly tunes that have made Allen a megastar cessful lyric. A few highlights on this disc pop ture of the songs, which are often played by and tabloid darling at home in Britain. up on tracks like “Eet,” where she writes, “It’s two or more musicians, consist of repetitive This might account for some of the shots like forgetting the words to your favourite song/ cycles of interwoven melodies. The contrast- she takes at fame on tracks like “The Fear,” or You can’t believe it/ You were always singing ing rhythms, which can be further layered with her pleas for honesty on “Everyone’s At It.” along.” And the one that actually had me skip traditional and/or improvised variations, tend And since she’s gotten very used to being back to hear it again, was “Folding Chair,” a to induce a trance-like state. under constant scrutiny, Allen seems content charming pop tune complete with dolphin Healing Dreams demonstrates Azim’s profi- to delve into topics that have become public impression and this line: “I’ve got a perfect ciency at arranging a complex combination of knowledge—dysfunctional relationships with body/ But sometimes I forget/ I’ve got a perfect these variables with seamless tempo transi- her parents, drug use and romance gone bad. body/ Cause my eyelashes catch my sweat/ Yes tions. Using several different mbira tunings, the Several tunes on this album grab your they do.” These are just two samples that were CD begins with three higher-pitched songs attention for their endearing cheekiness. A chosen from a list of tiny lyrical gems. And before descending to the lower-pitched bass couple of highlights include a great breakup that’s one of the fun things about listening to tones that are my preference. song with accordion called “Never Gonna Regina Spektor’s music. Strapping on the head- Like her previous two solo recordings, Azim’s Happen,” and then there’s “Not Fair,” about a phones is like going on a treasure hunt for the meditative mbira and vocals on Healing Dreams man who’s great in every aspect ... except the moments you’ll want to download onto a have, depending on my mood, dissolved my bedroom. It’s in those little snapshots of funny playlist and share with your friends. stress, soothed tender emotions, lulled me to situations that set Allen apart from other song- Listening to Far, one of the most impressive sleep or aroused me into a joyful transcendent writers. Not many can work the phrase “wet things about the production is that although dance with tracks such as “Marenje,” where patch” in the bed into a cheery toe-tapper. But Spektor worked with four different producers the message reminds us to protect the sacred in a way, Allen’s strengths can become a to build the 13 tracks, her presence wasn’t forests “where nothing smells modern.” weakness. Knowing she can be a clever writer

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makes low points like “Fuck You” stand out all these two young women have garnered are here is overproduced and full of harmonies the more—this upbeat rant against those who well-deserved. Black rips it up in a way that that detract from song’s pathos and wit. oppose homosexuality is a little too cutesy. could send shivers down a penguin’s spine— Nonetheless, Indigo Girls fans will find But Allen usually does find the balance she’s that good. And Miller? Her drumming much to like. between twinkly charm and darker subject style is as driven as Black’s singing—unadul- matter. Listen close when you hear one of her terated bliss. INA UNT INA songs on the radio; unless you’re not paying Not for the wimpy, Funeral Mix Tape rocks ALL SIDE OF INA attention to the lyrics, you might dismiss her hard. Maple Music as just another pop tart. INDIGO GIRLS REVIEW BY CINDY FILIPENKO THE PACK A.D. Toronto’s Allyson Mitchell and Christina Zei- POSEIDON AND THE BITTER BUG dler, the long-time collaborators behind Ina FUNERAL MIX TAPE IG Records Unt Ina, liken themselves to Siegfried and Roy, Mint Records REVIEW BY CINDY FILIPENKO “but without the tigers, the cosmetic surgeries BY CINDY FILIPENKO Poseidon and the Bitter Bug, the Indigo Girls’ or the Las Vegas budgets.” As visual artists, Funeral Mix Tape, The Pack A.D.’s sophomore first studio album since 2006, finds the gals the two have attained a reputation on the fes- release, is a pitch-perfect follow-up to their back in familiar territory: Emily Saliers is tival circuit for producing interesting 2008 debut Tintype. While a less confident deconstructing failed relationships and Amy innovative films and videos since 1994. band might have been inclined to smooth out Ray is venting her political spleen. And while a Their latest incarnation is as Ina Unt Ina, a the rough edges and go for a more commer- song about colonialism (“Sugar Tongue”) fol- project formed to highlight their experimental cial sound, The Pack A.D. sensibly stays true lowed by a wrenching ode to lost lesbian love music offerings. Their electronic compositions to their raw, organic sound. (“Love of Our Lives”) might seem odd album are reminiscent of a number of early ’80s per- It’s hard not to compare The Pack A.D. with assembly for other artists, it’s your typical formers, such as Lene Lovitch (“Lucky other guitar-and-drum duos, such as The Indigo Girls format—Emily song, Amy song, Number”) and The Flying Lizards (“Money”). White Stripes and The Kills, who play stripped- Emily song, and so on. It’s so darned egalitar- Their debut CD, All Side of Ina, is a mix of down blues-rock. What separates The Pack ian, you gotta love it! freaky covers and original compositions that A.D. from the pack is that they are two women Or do you? Poseidon and the Bitter Bug is a do everything from bash the genetically modi- who are on the low side of their 20s. Don’t solid collection of songs that makes for an fied food empire Monsanto to praise the worry, the lyrical content and traditional blues average CD, lacking the thematic cohesion quirky, geek-girl perspective of cartoonist structures employed on Funeral Mix Tape that would make it a great work. (The last time Lynda Barry. quickly eradicate any notion of musical imma- Indigo Girls pulled off that trick was with While a few of the songs on All Sides of Ina turity. “Making Gestures, Wolves and 2004’s All We Let In.) If there’s any consistent are ripe for dance remixes—specifically, Werewolves,” “Don’t Have to Like You, Oh Be theme here, it’s looking at life from middle age. “Baby Daddy” and “Sexy Bitch”—most of the Joyful,” “Shiny Things” and the blistering Songs like the “Fleet of Hope” and “Ghost of material here contradicts the misconception opening track “Blackout” are passionate, the Gang,” which are, respectively, about lost that electronica equals dance-floor effluvia. unadulterated blues tunes that sound timeless. love and lost friends, speak eloquently to The album is full of ethereal gems like “Tara” In fact, there’s not a single song on Funeral experiences common among those over 40. and “Ina Dreams of Ina.” The only place this Mix Tape that Janis Joplin couldn’t have sung What’s interesting to hear on Poseidon and album fails is on the cover songs. Gordon 40 years ago. the Bitter Bug is how both performers have Lightfoot’s “Sundown” ends up sounding like a Guitarist/vocalist (or lead growler) Beck continued to evolve as they hit life’s midpoint: morose and menacing stalker ode and The Black and drummer Maya Miller have been Ray gets edgier and Saliers, the better lyricist Guess Who’s “These Eyes” falls flat. making themselves a reputation as a not-to-be of the two, is getting more ethereal. The Mitchell and Zeidler are doing exciting things missed live act, headlining such venerable remake of Amy Ray’s “Driver Education,” here with Ina Unt Ina. Let’s hope they give up rock rooms as The Horseshoe (Toronto) and which first appeared on her solo album Prom, the ho-hum irony that accompanies their cover getting rave notices on the North American illustrates the girls’ stylistic differences. The work for more of the cleverness that marks their festival circuit. The attention and accolades original tune is driving pop/punk; the version own politically and socially savvy songs. 

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longer is she mangled. “For thirty years, silence has strangled me from the inside....” Her love for Serey, a Cambodian man, remains, and that same source of love extends outwards to include a community of others, such as the Canadian forensic worker and the Cambodian woman travelling the same road. The taking of lives, and the loving of lives, is such a tough story to tell in the same breath, yet Echlin comes off well with that delicate task she has set herself. We are all on the same side of history, appearances notwithstanding. History flows both ways, like the river Echlin describes. It matters what song we sing, as she reminds us. At times the song is a requiem, but sing it we must, because we need a profound antidote to AFRICAN LOVE STORIES sense coming from?’ … ‘How will I show my cancel—forever—the arrival of mankind’s too EDITED BY AMA ATA AIDOO face in public,’ she screamed.” many blunt instruments. Ayebia Clarke Publishing Zimbabwean author Blessing Musariri There was never a must for love to be a explores an adulterous affair between a sassy requiem. REVIEW BY EVELYN C. WHITE teenager and a “constipated hippo” of a man Being a child of modernity, a child of three dif- A quarter century after Alice Walker was lam- in “Counting Down the Hours.” “The ‘s’ in sev- ferent countries, Sook C. Kong finds that basted for depicting a black lesbian enteen doesn’t stand for stupid,” the making sense of witnessing is written into the relationship in The Color Purple, Ugandan protagonist declares. This winning collection writer Monica Arac de Nyeko won the 2007 script of existence. celebrates the myriad faces of love in Africa. Caine Prize for her story “Jambula Tree.” Writ- ing with deep poignancy, the author details the Salt Spring Island, B.C., writer Evelyn C. White HALF WORLD is the author of Alice Walker: A Life. desire that forever marks the friendship HIROMI GOTO between two schoolgirls. Puffin Publishing “I just wanted to write about pure love … in THE DISAPPEARED REVIEW BY SHAWNA DEMPSEY a complex society,” said Nyeko, 30, about her KIM ECHLIN Half World is a true quest narrative—page- landmark achievement. Penguin The saga is among many well-crafted tales turning, fraught with adventure, a trip. REVIEW BY SOOK C. KONG in African Love Stories, edited by pioneering Unsentimental and unstinting in its fear factor, Ghanaian author Ama Ata Aidoo. “Love is at The taking of lives is gruesome, there is no this metaphorically rich tale confronts mon- the bottom of nearly all earthly happenings,” way not to dissolve. The chapters dealing with sters within and without. she asserts in the introduction. For a continent genocide are hardest to read, but we read to Like all great tales, it starts, “Long, long, long long burdened with damning images of vio- witness and, in the retelling, include other wit- ago….” And there begins its irresistible pull. We lence, the volume is a vital counter-narrative nesses. Everything covered up is gone, every are dragged as much as we follow its young that presents Africa as a landscape of tender- event uncovered is still there. This is the heroine as she undertakes a harrowing journey ness, however unruly or complex. volatile glycerine driving Kim Echlin’s novel, into a broken cosmos. The narrative follows Indeed, the book is refreshingly devoid of The Disappeared, which attempts to give Melanie, an ungainly child teetering between couplings with blissful Hollywood endings. shape to the interregnums of mayhem that childhood and womanhood, who is in search of Consider “Deep Sea Fishing” by Kenyan writer have impacted Cambodia, like asteroids that her lost mother. She is assisted by a form-shift- Wangui wa Goro. The evocative story chroni- hit with no warning. ing rat who is at times a green jade talisman cles a pair on the brink of their first sexual A novel is not an official document; neither and at other times pure rodent. This unlikely duo encounter. As their passion rises, the woman is it a standard history text. It is better that it must pay their way into the half-world hell by reveals her pained history as a survivor of isn’t, for that is its strength. Echlin’s novel first biting off a finger and then traversing a path female circumcision. The author writes: “He begins with a young Canadian woman’s inno- made of the backs of flying crows. What awaits had known that there was something signifi- cence and ends with a community of on yonder shore? Pure evil, Mr. Glueskin, an cant troubling her, but not for one moment had witnesses, both inside and outside the text. unforgettable and compelling allegory for pain he imagined that it would be this.… He was Every instance of the hope for justice has so great it never ends. proud that he had not acted adversely, that the come from the courage of witnesses. Half World is the fifth novel by award-win- need in his loins was not the only propulsion in Anne Greves, the protagonist, discovers ning Canadian author Hiromi Goto. Its pages his desire for her.” that truth comes in layers. The greatest truth are beautifully illustrated by Jillian Tamaki, “Marriage and Other Impediments” maps that holds her is the need to live what she who is best known for her excellent work on the emotional turmoil of a Nigerian woman knows, that once touched, one is not the the graphic novel Skim. soon to present her German fiancé to her fam- same. She claims her whole humanity: “Men It is rare that we adults read stories with ily. “My mom jumped up … and started called me foolish, stubborn, worthless, naive, pictures, and the combination is nostalgic, screaming in Yoruba,” writes Tomi Adeaga. foreign, selfish, stupid, a woman. I wanted reminiscent of “chapter books” from child- “‘You want to kill me! Where is all this non- what I wanted; I claimed my own lucidity.” No Continued page 41

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poetrysnapshot

WHAT IT FEELS LIKE FOR A GIRL JENNICA HARPER Anvil Press RIVERS … AND OTHER BLACKNESS … BETWEEN US: (DUB) POEMS OF LOVE D’BI.YOUNG.ANITAFRIKA Women’s Press THE INVISIBILITY EXHIBIT SACHIKO MURAKAMI Talonbooks REVIEWS BY MARIIANNE MAYS Jennica Harper is a young poet whose sec- ond collection What It Feels Like for a Girl is named after a Madonna song, and as Harper herself notes, Madonna “is the third character in the world of this story.” The book of poems, written in continuous cou- plets and divided into four chapter-sections, is about the culmination and dissolution of a friendship and sexual encounter between two teen girls, the narrator and Angel, a dark, charismatic figure with self-destruc- tive ways. Angel is awe-inspiring in her daring per- formance of self and sexuality. The Madonna-icon takes hold: What kind of power, muses our narrator headily, is it? What has it to do with sex? What with love, affection, desire, aspiration, ambition? felt-experience, and in the telling and her Murakami also approaches absence, the Which parts are real and which make- negotiation of complexities, in her marvel- haunting “exhibit” of Vancouver’s missing believe? What is pure fantasy, and whose lous use of language and rhyme, Harper is women. In this debut, the poet rages against fantasy is it? sure, wondrous, wise, musical and winning. injustice, misogyny, social blindness and Here Jennica Harper revives that potent Another writer who celebrates life and horror. She speaks on behalf of those knowledge, half internal, half filtered women (of the African diaspora in particular) silenced, poor, unwanted women, against through culture, spawned from the difficul- is Jamaican-Canadian performance artist and their invisibility in life and visibility in collec- ties and exhilarations of impending activist d’bi.young.anitafrika. Her book tive death, where “public opinion turns on a womanhood and the sublime, irrepressible accompanies an album of dub poetry, musical pivot.” This excerpt from “Wishing Well” mettle of teen spirit. Female agency and demonstrates the poet’s clarity, delicacy and issues of choice, objectification, pornogra- spoken word with origins in reggae. The writ- phy, cultural role models, societal standards ten work demonstrates a palpable desire for furious grace: and hypocrisies, forbidden allegiances—all social change and revolutionary roots, though “My fist holds as many coins/ as I can are contended with, but Harper relives the the articulation is less focused than it could carry. […]// I wish for a return, or for jus- tale, and, echoing Madonna, “live[s] to tell” be. Too often individual pieces are diffuse in tice./ It’s safe to do that here. You can throw it. She also draws out the private conflicts subject matter, the political intent hazy. Two wishes away/ and no one will fish them out that dog neat abstractions and simple dis- stronger pieces in the collection express con- // […] Maybe I’m buying the future a Coke,/ tinctions. “Problem is,” notes the speaker, nection with others: “dear black lover friend” a popsicle, a bag of potato chips, a fix.// “no one means the heart/ when they say is a tender letter about her son; and in the Maybe I’m trying to bribe God./ […] I scatter heart. They mean part// head, part gut, part melancholy piece “when the love is not my spare change/ all at once. Each com- twat./ They mean, you get this feeling,// enough: the conversation I never had with bil- pletes its parabolic reach,/ falls dead sometimes it’s a clouded/ vision, sometimes lie holiday,” anitafrika addresses the singer as weight. I wish until the ripples still enough/ genital friction,// sometimes a tightening, a a spiritual guide—as though Holiday’s bril- to show my face: and just beyond, lit stars/ loosening,/ a grip seizing// then slipping.” liant, enduring voice might recuperate bright as found dimes.” Rather than theoretical ideals, this fictive tragedy—and comforts her. What an eloquent, powerful collec- narrative folds in individual, idiosyncratic The Invisibility Exhibit by Sachiko tion this is! 

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FERNWOOD University of Ottawa PUBLISHING critical books for critical thinkers Graduate Studies at the www.fernwoodpublishing.ca Institute of Women’s Studies VICTIM NO MORE Women’s Resistance to Law, Culture and Power edited by Ellen Faulkner & Gayle MacDonald t1I%BOE."JO8PNFOT4UVEJFT 9781552662953 $34.95 5XPöFMETPGTQFDJBMJ[BUJPO This anthology documents resistance in particular ways. t(FOEFS 1PXFSBOE3FQSFTFOUBUJPOT Women in these stories resist dominant conceptualizations t8PNFO 3JHIUTBOE$JUJ[FOTIJQJOB in order to change and empower their own lives. In order to do so, women resist all encompassing labels that do not describe them, but rather, have (MPCBMJ[FE8PSME stigmatizing effects in use. Such labels include queer/lesbian, prostitute, battered woman, sexual assault victim, and those labels which racialize, rather than explain, women’s lives. t$PMMBCPSBUJWF."JOTFMFDUFEEJTDJQMJOFT

IN THE OTHER ROOM XJUIBTQFDJBMJ[BUJPOJO8PNFOT4UVEJFT Entering the Culture of Motherhood by Fiona Nelson 9781552662908 $15.95 www.grad.uOttawa.ca Although much has been written about motherhood, very little work has examined mothers’ relationships with other mothers. This book examines the cultural space created and occupied by mothers, and uncovers the vital roles other mothers play in a mother’s ability to perform her mothering work and to negotiate the identity transformations that mark the journey into motherhood. AVAILABLE ATYOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE ORVISIT US ONLINE

ABOUT CANADA: CHILDCARE by Martha Friendly & Susan Prentice

In Canada, early childhood education and care (ECEC) includes childcare programs, kindergartens and nursery schools. When these programs are well-designed, they support children’s development and accommodate parents who work or study. Other countries have comprehensive ECEC programs that achieve this. WHY DOESN’T CANADA? The authors of About Canada: Childcare attempt to answer this and other questions about childcare in Canada. What is missing in Canada’s ECEC landscape and why? Can Canada develop a nurturing, integrated system that provides wonderful environments for young children and not merely necessary, but not particularly desirable, places to keep children safe while parents are at work? Is ECEC primarily a public good, a private family responsibility or an opportunity for profit-making? Early childhood education and childcare is a political issue, the authors argue, and the absence of a universal, publicly funded ECEC system is detrimental to families, children and Canada’s future.

9781552662915 $17.95 AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE OR VISIT US AT WWW.FERNWOODPUBLISHING.CA

FERNWOOD PUBLISHING critical books for critical thinkers www.fernwoodpublishing.ca

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Continued from 38

hood. But beware. Whatever comfort is offered by the form is shattered by a deep darkness of text and illustration alike. This fast-paced tale combines archetype, invention and psychology to profound effect and is not for the weak of heart. Reading the novel is like entering a dream. The child carries a magic eight ball that asks questions rather than providing answers. Hybrid creatures, part human, part starfish or wallaby, chant for murder. Death is longed for, life is fetishized. Mothers leave their children. My only regret is the therapeutic language that creeps into Goto’s otherwise pitch-perfect prose. Lines like “She was responsible for the things she chose. That’s all.” took me out of Writing, like mothering, supports and inspires committed and passionate advocate for some the in-between world and made the message them; mothering, like writing, is for them an form of proportional representation electoral the book delivers a little too easy. act of “controlled creativity.” system and for increasing civic literacy, May But I quibble. Goto’s writing masterfully cre- In Double Lives, the editors have assem- is at her best in the chapter “Making the Vote ates a fantastically detailed and emotionally bled a remarkable collection. For all of the Fair.” Using New Zealand as her primary complex world populated by the weak and the difficulties and challenges the contributors example, she points out that countries that brave—each and every one of us. Her charac- faced, almost without exception they would have adopted some type of proportional rep- ter Melanie drives the story inexorably to its heartily endorse the closing piece by Rachel resentation system have higher voter conclusion and, like many great heroines of lit- Rose. In “Letters to a Young Mother Who turnouts compared to countries with a first- erature, lives on inside of me. Writes,” Rose affirms that “mothering has past-the-post or a single member plurality made me a better writer.” voting system. They also have higher levels of DOUBLE LIVES: Susan Prentice, a mother of two, writes social civic literacy. WRITING AND MOTHERHOOD science prose in Winnipeg. Refreshingly readable given its subject mat- ter, Losing Confidence positively pulses with MCGILL-QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY PRESS energy and optimism and, once begun, is hard Edited by Shannon Cowan, Fiona Tinwei Lam LOSING CONFIDENCE to put down. If civics courses were mandatory and Cathy Stonehouse. ELIZABETH MAY for all Canadian high school students and this REVIEW BY SUSAN PRENTICE McClelland and Stewart book an integral part of those courses, May’s In Double Lives: Writing and Motherhood, REVIEW BY DIANA GAULT optimism might be vindicated. After all, as she Marni Jackson suggests that mothers who are Elizabeth May is still doing it all. Environmen- concludes, “Democracy is not a spectator writers are passionately divided and more talist, activist, writer, lawyer and leader of the sport.” amplified than they were before they had chil- , she has written seven Kiwi by birth and Canuck by choice, Diana dren. She is one of 24 writers who tackle this books, and within days of the 2008 election Gault is a plain language editor and gender- vexed topic in this poignant and searing saw the need for another. neutral writing specialist in Victoria, B.C. anthology. Losing Confidence, her eighth book, is aptly The contributors include poets, novelists, titled. From its first chapter, “The Degradation UNTIL OUR HEARTS ARE ON memoirists, life-writers, essayists and authors of Canadian Parliamentary Democracy,” May of children’s literature. An astonishing number asserts that Canadians have not only lost con- THE GROUND: ABORIGINAL had children when they were very young. Not fidence and interest in their politicians, but MOTHERING, OPPRESSION, all of them maintained custody of their chil- also in their parliamentary and election RESISTANCE AND REBIRTH dren. Not all lived with their children’s fathers. processes. In the chapter, “The Americaniza- EDITED BY D. MEMEE LAVELL AND Few were consistently economically secure tion of Our Election Process” she meticulously and many lived unconventional lives. But all documents instances of wilful misinformation JEANETTE CORBIERE LAVELL sought that elusive path of balancing mother- and outright dishonestly on the part of elected Demeter Press ing and writing. representatives. REVIEW BY JANE MARSDEN The collection is intensely personal, filled However, May does not dwell on the nega- This analytical study of motherhood by Aborig- with intimacies and confessions. Some moth- tive for long. Instead, she offers positive and inal women could be used as a template for ers were spurred to write by their children: well-researched reasons to revive what the evolution of motherhood as seen in today’s Noreen Shanahan shyly calls her teenaged could and should be an engaging, vital and world. The elders of Aboriginal communities son Toto her muse. Others set aside their writ- ongoing process. not only discuss healthy ways to raise chil- ing for long stretches to care for children. May wants elections to be about issues dren, but also share the legacy of the trauma Many were drained by the time and demands and ideas; debates should focus on policy as a result of the degradation the government of parenting, some because their children had and solutions, she says. While these ideas and churches applied to their ancestral cul- special needs. are neither new nor radical, it is May’s style tural beliefs. This book explains how But all these mothers are word women. and presentation that engage the reader. A motherhood came to be out of balance.

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historian Alison Prentice and her colleagues that “If I shot all of you, that would finish the women’s movement at Atkinson, wouldn’t it?” Equally grim stories of harassment, sexism and chauvinism abound. Concurrently, the women write about the radiant and transformative experiences of working collectively, of the clicks when the social order suddenly became clear, and of being brave enough to tackle the whole aca- demic enterprise. In the space of a short decade, women’s studies went from virtual absence (few books, no canon, little credibil- ity) to a presence to be reckoned with. While juggling family and home on the aca- demic clock is hard enough today, imagine doing it almost 40 years ago—before parental Leanne Simpson shares how “full-time inal children because of cultural misunder- leave, before Section 15 and before there was mothering was recognized for its importance standings. It is estimated that the number of even a language to name the problem. Meg in growing and maintaining healthy nations children and youths in out-of-home care actu- Luxton was barred for hours from writing her and the social structure of our nation was set ally increased between 1995 and 2001 by 71.5 doctoral comprehensives because she was up to support mothers and children.” She fur- percent. When I read this book, I better under- pregnant. One professor gave birth on Monday ther states that “calculated colonialism stood how racism is implemented and how it and was back in the classroom on Wednes- changed birthing. The Western medicalization keeps being perpetuated towards Aboriginal day. Such stories of perseverance are of birth replaced our ceremony ..., detachment women. inspiring and a reminder that progress has supplemented attachment and mothering was The Aboriginal parental teachings in this been made. replaced by the physical, psychological, sex- book are rooted in values that privilege the The anthology opens with a splendid inte- ual and spiritual abuse of the residential interrelationships among the spiritual, the nat- grated overview of women’s history in Canada school system.” ural and the self; a sacred orientation to place and Quebec over the remarkable decade. It This book should be used in high schools and space; a fluidity of knowledge exchange has a bibliography to die for—a gift in itself. and universities to educate both male and between past, present, and future; and an Yet, like the history recorded, the collection is female students. It describes the positive honouring of language and orality as an impor- incomplete—just two women of colour, no Aboriginal culture of motherhood and tells tant means of knowledge transmission. Aboriginal voices and little on sexuality. But as how Aboriginal motherhood was changed to I lift my hands up in respect and thanks to a record of a moment of joy and hopefulness, suit colonial culture. For example, Aboriginal the writers for sharing their lives and cultural it stands as a glowing testimony of how women were forbidden by law to practise teachings. women’s studies and the women’s liberation birth ceremonies such as placenta-burying, movement began as two branches of the same naming ceremonies, feasts or practices MINDS OF OUR OWN: INVENTING enterprise—wanting nothing less than to including home births, long-term nursing and FEMINIST SCHOLARSHIP AND change the world. co-sleeping. Susan Prentice took her first women’s studies Belinda Wheeler talks about the effects of WOMEN’S STUDIES IN CANADA course in 1981. an institutionalized upbringing. “Many Aborigi- AND QUEBEC, 1966–1976 nals have never had the chance to develop EDITED BY WENDY ROBBINS, MEG LUX- I AM HUTTERITE parenting skills,” she explains. TON, MARGRIT EICHLER AND FRANCE This book should be read by every politi- MARY-ANN KIRKBY DESCARRIES, cian, social worker, police officer, counsellor, Polka Dot Press Wilfrid Laurier University Press priest, minister, doctor, psychologist and psy- REVIEW BY R.J. STEVENSON chiatrist in Canada. Reading it will help the REVIEW BY SUSAN PRENTICE “I am lost in thought when Levi forces me out reader better the world through a cross-cul- During the heady years of 1966 to 1976, femi- of my reverie. ‘Mommy,’ he asks, a look of tural understanding of parenthood. Renee nist pioneers slugged it out in Canada’s and wonder on his round, little face, ‘are you a Elizabeth Mzinegiizhigo-kwe Bedard states Quebec’s universities and colleges to make a Hutterite?’ My son’s innocent question sends “as Anishinaabe women, we are taught to fol- place for women’s studies. In Minds of Our me on a journey into the inner recesses of the low a life based on teachings of love, honesty, Own, 40 feminist scholars reflect on how heart, where our deepest secrets are kept and respect, courage, kindness, wisdom, truth and women literally built a new academic enter- the truth is stored.” bravery, among others.” prise from the ground up. Their stories make it As a journalist and television reporter in In the section “Aboriginal Mothering Under clear that women’s studies was born in strug- Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Mary-Ann the States’s Gaze,” Randi Cull explains how gle, both as an intellectual project and a Kirkby spent her career relating the lives of the stereotype of Aboriginal women being political movement. others. In 2002, a visit back to her former Hut- “unfit” mothers has become an entrenched The stories are compelling, enthralling and terite colony outside of Portage la Prairie, aspect of the Canadian social and state sys- chilling. Sociologist Maureen Baker was once Manitoba, led her back in time. A bittersweet tem. This section leads into how social held at gunpoint in a university cafeteria by an past beckoned, and the journey to reclaim her workers are encouraged to apprehend Aborig- angry male student. A dean smiled as he told heritage calls strongly in the award-winning

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memoir I Am Hutterite. The circumstances under which her family left the close-knit community are retold by the author in a profoundly expressive way. Kirkby guides us through this unfamiliar world by virtue of her most cherished recollections, and, despite the tensions that led to their departure, there is an undeniable sense of gratitude for many of the relationships she shared at Fairholme: Nonetheless, Weglaufen—“running away”—was something only young Hutterite people enticed by the outside world did. Until 1969, Ronald and Mary Dornn had lived their lives communally, and the transition for them and their young family was difficult. Recalls Kirkby: “At 46, father had never had a bank account, held a mortgage or paid a bill.” offering witty, intelligent, thoughtful and some- Mean Girl Motive: Negotiating Power and Along with incurring additional household times outrageous observations from 70 Femininity. Landry’s research explores how responsibilities, young Ann-Marie faced women—from Mary Ellen Smith, who in 1918 social status, stratified by class and gender, problems integrating with non-Hutterites in a became the first woman MLA in B.C., to Carole affects female aggression. She asks questions new school environment. “We didn’t know James—who’ve successfully put their toes in such as: how to swim, or skate, or ride a bicycle,” she the male waters of B.C. politics. • Are hidden forms of aggression such as writes. Kirkby hadn’t heard of Walt Disney, There’s Iona Campagnolo, who was once gossip, peer alienation and dirty looks had never tasted pizza, macaroni and cheese, patted on the bum in public by John Turner, more common among popular, higher-sta- or banana splits and her native dialect and who served a mercifully short period in 1984 tus girls? clothing were ridiculed. as PM. Campagnolo treated this idiocy with • What does power represent to girls? Do The Dornn family did return to visit humour and later became B.C.’s first woman girls associate power with physical force? Fairholme on occasion, and it was their chal- lieutenant-governor. Not surprisingly, she • How do feelings of powerlessness affect lenge to reconcile the disparate ways of life. summed up politics as “the men in suits syn- how girls express their aggression? Adaptation was an ongoing process, yet it drome” in which “the winner takes all.” • How do structures of race and class shape enabled them to appreciate their lives and Then there’s Mary Collins, federal Conserv- girls’ perceptions of aggression? relationships more fully. ative minister responsible for the status of Being a research publication, this isn’t I Am Hutterite is stirring, witty and heartfelt. women from 1990 to 1993 who said suc- exactly a relaxing Sunday read. However, most It is an unforgettable story that will stay with cinctly: “I hated question period. I felt it was girls and women who read this book will be you long after the last page is turned. just to make everybody else look stupid.” Plus able to relate to Landry’s findings about the ça change. way, females express their anger, such as: SEEKING BALANCE: In sum, this is an informative, intelligent “girls will sometimes filter their meanness CONVERSATIONS WITH B.C. book, with one caveat—its occasional through other individuals and secondary descent into the area of polemic. There is no sources, like a computer, thereby avoiding WOMEN IN POLITICS need, for example, for the author to pontifi- direct confrontation” ANNE EDWARDS cate on the feminism of one politician over According to Landry’s research, girls feel Caitlin Press that of another. that their power is based on fixed structures REVIEW BY LYN COCKBURN Note that neither Marzari nor Campagnolo, outside of their control, such as gender, race Darlene Marzari, former minister of municipal veterans of a combative system originally and class. The book has a heartbreaking affairs in B.C.’s NDP government in the ’90s, designed to render them ineffective, see the undertone that suggests this lack of power is once told me that reporters often walked right adversarial aspect of politics surviving the just a part of life and that meanness is an out- by her when she came out of caucus. current wave of globalization. let for aggression, as well as a way for girls to “They’d go straight to my deputy minister, The fact that a growing number of world perform their femininity. who just happened to be a man, and ask him leaders—in Africa and in the Western Some passages brought me to tears. When questions,” she said. world—are now duly elected women gives asked how she deals with anger, one respon- Have we progressed at all in B.C.? Yes, and us all hope. dent said she would, “go to the bathroom and not so much. On the yes side, there are like … handle it and break something.” One women like Carole James, leader of the B.C. THE MEAN GIRL MOTIVE: simply said, “cry,” while another said, “I bang NDP and yes, there are more of us. On the NEGOTIATING POWER my head on the wall.” maybe-not-so-much side, we have yet to AND FEMININITY I would have liked to see even more in- experience an elected woman premier in B.C., depth connections made between this kind much less a prime minister of Canada. NICOLE LANDRY of internalized aggression and the depres- Seeking Balance: Conversations with B.C. Fernwood Publishing sion, eating disorders, drug use and cutting Women in Politics seeks to put the evolution of REVIEW BY KAREN DARRICADES so many girls and women experience. And so women in B.C. politics—as well as the lack of Twenty-four girls, aged eight to 11, are the would Landry. She prefaces her work by cit- it—in perspective. And largely, it does so, research subjects of Nicole Landry’s The ing past research exploring female

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aggression, almost all of which is examined Snowball, for example, is cloaked entirely in journey of dramatic twists and turns is all the through male understandings of girl fights” tiny white flowers—save for her eyes, bird- more remarkable for an unexpected bit of and adult/parental explanations of girls’ beak nose, clawed foot and hands, which information she reveals at the end of the experiences. alternately hold and stroke the birds nesting in book. In so doing, Kidd claims the word This is one of the first studies to let girls’ her flora. “family” in a manner fitting with her unortho- first-hand knowledge guide the findings. Hope- Boyle’s other sculptures are equally as fasci- dox narrative. “Everything about this story fully, more research continues. nating—sexually aggressive and rabid with has proven it does not want to be told,” the desire. Take the five-armed girl, nude save for author observes. “Why can’t I just leave well SHARY BOYLE: black thigh-high stockings, feet loosely bound, enough alone? … I decide to write myself OTHERWORLD UPRISING back arched in orgiastic pleasure—with two forward.” hands, she gropes her torso; two other hands SHARY BOYLE, WITH ESSAYS BY Evelyn C. White is the author of Alice Walker: are shoved between her legs; still another hand A Life and Every Goodbye Ain’t Gone: A Photo JOSÉE DROUIN-BRISEBOIS, SHEILA HETI is shoved in her mouth. AND BEN PORTIS Narrative of Black Heritage on Salt Spring Boyle, author and illustrator of the graphic Island with photographs by Joanne Bealy. Conundrum Press novel Witness My Shame (Conundrum, 2005), REVIEW BY LISA FOAD is an exhilarating, singular force. The insurrec- GLASS HOUSES: At long last, the monstrous beauty of Shary tion of her “otherworld” couldn’t come at a Boyle’s meticulously crafted artworks has better time. SAVING FEMINIST been digitally captured and compiled. Other- ANTI-VIOLENCE AGENCIES world Uprising is a hardcover full-colour ANY OTHER WOMAN: FROM SELF-DESTRUCTION pictorial that showcases selected drawings, AN UNCOMMON BIOGRAPHY REBEKKAH ADAMS paintings and sculpture—including Boyle’s MONICA KIDD Fernwood Publishing acclaimed porcelain series. NeWest Press Boyle’s otherworld is exquisite, disturbing REVIEW BY T.L. COWAN and demanding. It is a realm that fuses cultur- REVIEW BY EVELYN C. WHITE First, let me say that I think it’s important that ally discordant ideas—childhood fancy and An engaging mélange of memoir, oral history, women who have been involved in anti-vio- apocalypse; beauty and horror; delicacy and travelogue and family genealogy, Any Other lence agencies reflect on the state of these perversity—and creates boldly jarring hybrids. Woman: An Uncommon Biography is easily agencies and help point feminists in new Witness as a winged girl wretches into a readable in a couple of sittings. Currently a directions. Second, Glass Houses is a good toilet bowl. Share the weighty look of the girl medical resident in Newfoundland and place to start thinking critically about the pro- staring out the window—her porcupine Labrador, author Monica Kidd brings her back- fessionalization of anti-violence work and the quills are raised, on guard. Or shiver at the ground as a former reporter for CBC Radio to ways that feminist anti-violence agencies sinister terrain negotiated by two children an exploration of the lives of her great-grand- have, at times, been corrupted by destructive who, isolated from one another and wild- parents, who emigrated from Slovakia to power imbalances. This has to do with the eyed with fear, attempt to protect themselves Canada and married in 1904. ways public funding structures often lead to from an unseen terror while a woman shov- Kidd is a poet and novelist who is especially the mainstreaming of feminist organizations. els at the rainbow-laced cloud upon which skilled at melding the conversational style of From my own experience in the anti-vio- they’re floating. her book with a lyricism that shimmers. Here lence sector, I can attest that author Within every fantastical imagining, Boyle she offers an imagined first meeting between Rebekkah Adams certainly has a point. Her challenges cultural mythologies and troubles her great-grandfather Andrew Zak, a miner, analysis of how a business model of social the normative order of things—and her sub- and his bride-to-be, Rosalia Patala. “She held work has had a devastating effect on feminist versions are haunting and provocative, her breath for six long days and nights as the organizations is astute. However, Adams’ celebratory of abjection, chaos and the ship took her west and west,” Kidd writes. insistence that this model is inherently male, grotesque. “Today she arrives … in shiny shoes and a and that women who participate in it are anti- Boyle’s porcelains, many of which have coat red as a poppy. A small man is here to feminist, takes credibility away from Adams’ found permanent residence in museums meet her. He is missing a finger…. Her babies analysis. Further, her lack of attention to the across Canada and as far away as Scotland, wait in his belly, but first there will be a house catastrophic ways that many feminist agen- are a deliciously terrifying reconstruction of to build and weather to learn. There are no cies have dealt with the involvement of trans traditional porcelain figurines within which words for this except ‘Yes.’” people is a crucial oversight. the cultural codes of femininity are violently Raised in Alberta, Kidd credits her maternal Glass Houses reads as a collection of per- and gloriously realized and revised. To cap- grandmother Helen with inspiring her to take sonal ruminations by a woman who has ture the dainty frills of Royal Doulton-style on a project that would occupy her for more struggled to be listened to within the volatile femininity, Boyle perfected the painstaking than a decade. “She fixed me grilled cheese world of feminist anti-violence organizations. It technique of porcelain lace draping. Boyle’s sandwiches, taught me how to bake bread, has the tone of someone who has been pretty ladies, however, bear varicose veins, how to knit, and took me to … quilting bees,” ignored, which may be fine for a first draft. A bruises, tears and freckles, slashed wrists Kidd writes. “She belongs to … the history of stronger edit could have helped craft a more and skewed limbs. women who … created their own meaning convincing book. Despite its weaknesses, One woman, decapitated, holds her head in from soil and sky. … That [first] source for me, Glass Houses is not without merit, and I hope her hands; at her bloodied neck, a ruffle of is Rosalia.” that others in the anti-violence movement will read and respond to it. pink lace has taken root. Another woman car- Infused with visits to archives, bars, ries her severed hands in a basket. Others churches, nursing homes, Canadian mining T.L. Cowan is a writer, scholar and artist living have merged with or been overrun by nature. towns and European castles, Kidd’s lengthy in Edmonton. 

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arts literature

unravelling from Afghanistan and its effect on women. She describes a country simultane- Armstrong Continues ously drenched in hope and in horror. Although progress is slow, the Afghan women’s movement is powerful and inspira- tional in its fight for basic human rights. For instance, the first-ever ministry of women’s Chronicles of affairs was established in 2002, and the coun- try’s new constitution includes equal rights for women as well as reserved seats in the Parlia- ment. A human rights commission was recently Afghanistan Women established to ensure women’s basic rights. The book is filled with examples of coura- geous leaders risking their lives in demanding change. Dr. Sima Samar, chair of the human rights commission, when threatened with death by the Taliban for educating girls, refused to let them stop her work. “Go ahead and hang me in a public place and tell the people my crime: I was giving papers and pencils to the girls.” Samar had said that if you educate a man, you only educate one person, but if you educate a woman, you educate a family. At one bombed-out girls’ school, she defied the Taliban by saying the lessons would continue—but under a copse of trees instead of in classrooms. At the launch of her book in Toronto, Arm- strong urged attendees to increase their solidarity efforts with Afghanistan’s women’s efforts. She told the audience about Farida Nekzad, editor-in-chief of the Panjwok news agency in Afghanistan. To escape a kidnapping attempt, this woman rolled herself out of a taxi when it rounded a corner. “She was injured, but went right back to her office and wrote the Sally Armstrong’s latest book Bitter Roots, Tender Shoots, explores shifts in Afghanistan society. story for her publication,” Armstrong recounts. Armstrong compared the early days of the Canadian women’s movement to the women’s BITTER ROOTS, TENDER SHOOTS: and lush gardens. “But he doesn’t work in any movement now spreading its tender shoots in THE UNCERTAIN FATE OF of these houses,” one woman told Armstrong. Afghanistan. She said that many of the “He works in a cave 30 kilometres north of AFGHANISTAN’S WOMEN demands are similar. “We’re not at the finish Kandahar City.” line,” she said, “but without a women’s move- SALLY ARMSTRONG Who knew? The women did. “Women ment we’d never have left the starting line.” Viking Canada always know what’s going on in the village,” Continues Armstrong: “Some say the BY NOREEN SHANAHAN writes Armstrong. “Evidently, even the CIA women’s movement is dead. My response to In Bitter Roots, Tender Shoots, Sally Arm- wasn’t smart enough to ask the women where people who make remarks like that is they strong recalls being in New York in 2003 to bin Laden was.” aren’t paying close enough attention. There launch Veiled Threat, her first book on women A journalist, Armstrong has followed are wonderfully active women taking on the in Afghanistan. Early one morning, her phone women in Afghanistan since 1996, soon after status quo all over the country. What’s more, rang. It was a Radio Canada reporter asking a the Taliban first took over. “They have been they are helping the women of Afghanistan, of single question: “Is it true that you know playing on the back of my eyelids like old Swaziland and a dozen other places where where Osama bin Laden is hiding out?” movies, the images of these women and girls I women are changing the status quo.” Armstrong set the caller straight. She had met during the last 11 years in Afghanistan,” When we hear reports of women marching been in Kandahar with a group of Afghan she writes. “It has at times felt as much like a in the streets of Kabul or elsewhere in women several months before the events of crusade as a journalistic assignment.” Afghanistan, Armstrong says, we should write, September 11, 2001, before Osama bin Laden Today, Armstrong is particularly interested in email or call our MP or the Canadian Interna- became a household name. The women how things have shifted—or not—since the tional Development Agency to voice our described bin Laden’s role in continuing a Taliban was overthrown in 2001. Bitter Roots is support and encourage government to support “diet of medieval theocratic dogma.” They about that shift. The book’s subtitle also sug- their demands. “Evil thrives on apathy and also described his four palatial homes com- gests an interesting cautionary note, urging cannot exist without it,” Armstrong says, quot- plete with marble pillars, grand tiled entrances readers to keep our eyes on the daily news ing Hanna Arendt. “Apathy is evil.” 

HERIZONS FALL 2009 45 her-047 Fall 2009 v23n2.qxp 9/10/09 1:16 PM Page 46

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on the edge BY LYN COCKBURN

Fall of Patriarchy Imminent

I predict that post-patriarchy, a long-awaited era in which with their wonderful photo ops that usually feature a bunch men cheerfully treat women with total equality, is imminent. of men and Angela—minus our Stephen, who is usually in The reason I am so certain is that post-feminism and post- the loo at the beginning of the shoot. Or he’s out front telling racism have been so successful. the media that Michael Ignatieff was educated at a radical Let’s take post-feminism first, which, as everyone knows, Muslim madrassa in Indonesia. occurred the moment the first woman entered politics. It Which brings me to post-racism, a happy circumstance continued to happen when the first woman entered the that occured the very second Barack Obama was elected boardroom, medical school and construction site. It will hap- president of the United States. Oh sure, there was that little pen again when the first woman is signed to an NHL, NBA matter of the cartoon showing watermelons on the White or MLB team. House lawn. And the possible racial profiling of Harvard Admittedly, there is one aspect of this phenomenon that professor Henry Gates, who was caught red-handed trying to confuses me: Why was there a need for a second woman, much open the front door of his own home. There was, after all, a less a third or fourth to get into these areas? For example, once danger he might have smacked police officer James Crowley Audrey McLaughlin had rendered feminism post by becoming with his cane. leader of the NDP, what in the name of the goddess did Alexa Never mind, Obama is in the White House and that indis- McDonough think she was doing by making it two women in putably proves we’re all in the post-racism period of history. a row. You listening, Michaëlle Jean? But the person who puts the finishing touches on both And note that since we’ve already experienced Kim Camp- post-feminism and post-racism is, of course, Sonia bell as prime minister, we don’t need to try that one again. Sotomayor, who was recently appointed to the U.S. Supreme Feminism, like God and Michael Jackson, is moribund. Court. After a lot of erudite questions largely from white More to the point, it is irrelevant. Sort of like Don Cherry. congressmen d’un certain age, she has been confirmed. Well yes, we do have to ignore one or two bumps along the I suspect, however, that Sotomayor has raised the spectre of road to post feminism. For example, there’s the small matter racism against white men with her now infamous statement of the IOC barring women ski jumpers from the 2010 that a wise Latina woman might come to a better decision Olympics in Vancouver. The women sued (some say they than a white man. showed a good sense of humour by presenting the judge with No wonder that a number of congressmen expressed a fear the alternative of barring the male jumpers), lost and are about that Sotomayor may favour minorities or women in her deci- to appeal. This in spite of the IOC politely explaining that its sions. Others insist that such criticism proves that irony has decision is the result of “technicalities,” not discrimination. been murdered. Then there’s the scandal at the Vancouver docks. Accord- Nonetheless, she is third woman to sit on the court and the ing to a report by labour expert Vince Ready, the docks are a first Latina. terrible place for women to work. They’re threatened, vili- Now, why the U.S. needed to appoint a third woman to the fied, put in danger and in some cases urinated upon. But the Supreme Court is questionable. Wasn’t one enough? How- important point is that there are at least six women working ever, because she is off-white, her confirmation proves racism on the Vancouver docks. These people do not seem to real- against women is now finished, over, done. ize that it only takes one, not six, to get us into the And so, given the wild success of both post-feminism and post-feminist era. post-racism, it is no wonder that I, and no doubt many others, And, unfortunately, I have to mention those G8 meetings await post-patriarchy with barely restrained enthusiasm. 

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